The Witness
by Neuropsych
Summary: A man with more than one name is dead, and the only witness they have isn't talking
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: So! A new Castle story. The last one I wrote was fun, this one should be a bit more serious – although I doubt I can write anything without a little humor in it. I hope you guys will read it._

_Disclaimer: I'm not making any money on this and I don't own Castle._

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

**_The Witness_**

The room was sunny and bright, the light curtains pulled back to allow the morning sun to shine in and reflect from several different mirrors and paintings on the walls, bathing the entire room with a delicate glow. The floors were hardwood, with a couple of rugs to cushion the austere affect, and the furniture was all tastefully upholstered in tasteful, vivid colors. The only thing marring the whole room was the dead body on the floor, and the small army of people who were taking pictures of it and studying the rest of the room, trying to determine what happened.

Kate Beckett walked through the door and was immediately drawn to the dead man sprawled on the floor, half on a rug and half on the floor. A pool of blood was under him, and Lanie was crouched beside him, studying the bloody wounds in the man's back.

"What do you have so far?" she asked, coming over and kneeling beside her, careful to stay out of the way.

Lanie shook her head, and looked up. And frowned.

"Where's Castle?"

"No clue. Said he was on his way."

They both turned their attention to the body again.

"Vic is a white male, probably in his late twenties, with three gunshot wounds in his upper torso." She pointed at the wounds on the back, which Beckett could tell were entrance wounds since exit wounds were far messier than what they were looking at. "Shot in the back."

"Neighbors didn't hear anything," came a voice from behind them. They didn't need to look up to know it was Esposito. "So he must have used a silencer."

"No chance he was killed elsewhere?" she asked Lanie.

"Not with the spatter we have, and the pooling. He died where he is right now."

"Then-"

There was a slight commotion at the door that drew her attention and interrupted her train of thought, and Beckett and the others saw Richard Castle nod to the police officer that was guarding the door and walk into the room. He looked rumpled and tired, and even at that distance she could see that his eyes were bloodshot when he glanced around the room, studying the layout of the place, and taking in the position of the body. When he walked over to her, she knew she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"You look terrible, Castle," Lanie said, looking him over. "Did you sleep in your clothes?"

"I didn't _sleep_," he admitted, with a tired smile. "I was up all night on the Internet."

"Yeah?" Esposito asked, with a sly grin. "Which site was it? Big boo-"

"It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen," Castle interrupted. "Have you guys ever heard of _fanfiction_?"

"What's that?" Lanie asked.

"You'd never believe it," he told her. He looked over at Beckett. "But I can't wait to tell you about some of the stories I was reading."

"I don't _even_ want to know," Kate told him, fairly certain that she didn't. "Do you mind if we get back to what we're here for?"

"What'd I miss?" he asked, changing gears immediately.

"Not much. Lanie was telling us about the DB."

"Not much to tell," she admitted. "So far I can tell you he's white, male, and dead."

"Any witnesses?" Castle asked, looking down at the corpse.

"None that have come forward," Ryan told them, walking over to join them. He looked at his notebook and shook his head. "I've spoken to seven neighbors and all seven people I've spoken with have given me seven different names for the victim – _and_ seven different occupations."

Beckett frowned, but it was Castle who spoke.

"Really? Did he have any ID on him?"

Ryan nodded.

"That was what I showed the neighbors. With my hand over the name after the first one gave me a different name than the one on the license. They all agree he lives here, and that's about _all_ they agree on."

"What does the _license_ say?" Beckett asked, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Castle had wandered away and was starting to open the doors that led off from the living room.

"John Smith."

That brought her attention back.

"Seriously?"

Ryan shrugged, giving her a chagrined look as he passed the license over to her. She studied it for a moment and shook her head.

"Get a list of other names we have for him, and start getting information from the neighbors," she ordered. "Someone had to see something. Run his license and see if it's real and let's check out the rest of the place…" she paused when she saw Castle step back quickly from the closet door he'd just opened.

He looked over at her, but she could tell whatever he was going to say wasn't coming. Wondering what he could have seen that managed to do something she'd never been able to do before – render him speechless – she walked over and looked into the closet as well.

And took a step back, too.

Huddled in the closet, looking up at them with terror in his big blue eyes was a small boy.

"Oh, my…"

Castle looked over at her, and then back at the little boy.

"Think we found a witness?" he asked.

"I hope not," Beckett said, softly.

The scene in the living room was the last thing anyone that young should ever see.


	2. Chapter 2

The little boy was probably four – or at least _looked _about that age. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt that was stained and rumpled and his feet were bare and dirty. His hair was dark brown and just as unkempt as the rest of him, but those mournful scared eyes were what really drew a person's attention to him. And Detective Beckett wasn't immune to it.

She knelt down, making sure the door blocked the boy from the dead body on the floor. He pressed back against the wall when she moved, his eyes watching her intently, as if he was afraid of her.

"Hi…" she kept her voice as soft as she could, and gave him her best smile. Which was a little strained, of course. "I'm Kate. What's your name?"

He stared at her, pressing so hard against the rear wall that she was sure he'd break through the drywall any minute. She hated the fear in his eyes, and tried again to get him to relax a little.

"I won't hurt you. I'm a police officer." He didn't respond. Instead, he looked over at Castle, who was standing behind her, watching. Beckett looked back to see what he was looking at. More than willing to use any icebreaker she could, she turned back to the boy again. "That's my friend. Rick."

The boy continued looking at Castle, who flashed him a ready smile and knelt down beside Beckett.

"Hi."

As if launched out of a cannon the boy rushed at Castle, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face into his chest. He didn't make a noise; he just clutched Castle as if the writer was a lifeline.

Beckett looked over in surprise, but saw that Castle was just as shocked. His arms were held to the side, uncertain if he should hug the child to him or if he should try to hand him over to Beckett so she could talk to him. She scowled and made a motion that clearly told him to hug the boy, and he did, wrapping his arms around him slowly in case he changed his mind about wanting to be held.

The boy wasn't about to change his mind, it appeared. He clung to him even harder, his little nose pressing so hard into Castle's sternum that it was a little uncomfortable.

"Take him out of here, Castle," Beckett told him.

Castle nodded, and stood up; picking the little boy up in the same motion and turning his body to make sure that even if the boy looked up he wouldn't see the man on the floor.

"Come on, Buddy," he murmured to him, softly. "Let's go out into the hall way and see about getting some ice cream or something. Do you like ice cream?"

There wasn't a response. The boy just held onto him tightly, and refused to look up. Castle sighed, but he couldn't be upset. If the boy had seen what had happened in the apartment, he would need as much love and support as he could get. Especially when they started to question him. Instead of trying to get him to talk, Castle just shifted him a little to make holding him more comfortable and to make sure the child could breathe. Then he just held onto him and ran his hand along the boy's back, comforting him like he'd comfort Alexis if he were holding her.

OOOOOOOOO

"What was that about?" Ryan asked as Castle left the room with the little boy.

Beckett shook her head.

"Possible witness."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. Looks terrified."

"So you gave him to _Castle_?" Esposito asked, surprised. Castle wasn't a cop. And aside from his daughter Alexis, he really didn't seem to have much experience with kids.

"He _picked_ Castle and won't let go of him."

"Oh."

Beckett turned her attention to the dead body.

"We'll worry about the kid when Castle has a chance to calm him down a little. For right now, let's get wrapped up here – and look around for any sign that the kid lives here."

"Neighbors say vic lived alone," Ryan told her. "No one mentioned a kid."

She knew he would have mentioned it earlier if someone had said anything about a child in the home, because they would have started looking for him immediately, fearing the worst.

"Look anyway. See if you can find some shoes for him."

"I'll have a time of death for you as soon as I can, Beckett," Lanie promised, turning back to what she was doing.

"Thanks, Lanie." She looked around the room, but everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing, and none of them needed her directing them just then. Which left her free to check on Castle and the child.

She went out into the hall, assuming that they wouldn't have gone far, and she was right. He was only a hundred feet or so from the door, with the boy still in his arms. She walked over to them, noticing that the child still had his face buried in Castle's shirt – only now it was the shoulder of Castle's shirt instead of the front. It gave her a chance to try to get some conversation out of him.

Like his name.

Castle gave her a nod of greeting when she walked over, but the boy didn't even look over at her. The writer decided to try and break the ice for them this time.

"Hey, big guy," Castle said, brushing his hand against the boy's dark hair. "You need to meet my friend, Kate."

The boy looked up, glanced over at Beckett – who smiled – and then buried his face back into Castle's shirt without a sound.

"Any idea who he is?" Castle asked, looking over the boy's head at her.

She shook her head.

"We're not even sure where he came from."

"_Someone _has to be missing him." He ran his hand along the boy's head again, but there was no response other than a tightening of the grip that was already ruining his shirt. "He's too cute to be abandoned."

Beckett had to agree. She reached over and pressed her hand against the boy's back, but again there wasn't any response.

"We'll take him down to the station and check missing persons. Do you mind carrying him?"

"Of course not."

She hesitated, her hand still on the boy's back, and Castle could see that she looked troubled. Even more so than normal for a murder case. He gave her a reassuring smile and winked at her, trying to lighten the mood for her – and for the youngster he was holding. Kids could tell when things weren't okay, he knew.

"Don't worry, Beckett. We'll figure it out."


	3. Chapter 3

Beckett called ahead from the car, and when they reached the precinct there was a pediatrician and a person from child welfare who happened to also be a child psychologist waiting for them. One to check and make sure there weren't any injuries they might have missed, and the other to help them with interrogation. Normally they would have done it all at the hospital, but children definitely required special care, and the police knew it well.

The boy had refused to let go of Castle even long enough to ride in the car, and rather than force him and cause more trauma they'd simply buckled the two into one seatbelt and let it go. Which proved to be wise, because when Castle tried to turn him over to the pediatrician, the child actually screamed, making the first noise they'd heard from him. He clung to Castle's shirt with both hands while the pediatrician took hold of his thin body and tried to pull him off as carefully as he could.

Every head in the precinct turned their way, and the pediatrician grimaced.

"Nothing wrong with his grip," he told them, letting go of the boy, who whimpered and buried his head back into Castle's shirt. "What's the story?"

Beckett shrugged.

"We're not sure. Found him at a crime scene. He might be a witness, but we haven't been able to get him to talk to us."

The psychologist frowned, looking at Castle.

"Did the victim look like you?"

Castle shook his head, looking at Beckett for confirmation. He hadn't actually seen the dead man's face, after all. She shook her head, too.

"Blonde hair, slight build. Not even dressed alike."

"That's odd. The other possibility is that Mr. Castle here looks like someone else – someone the boy is obviously attached to and feels safe with."

"Do we even know if he speaks _English_?" Esposito asked. "That'd scare him enough to be clingy, I bet."

The psychologist nodded agreement, and they all looked at Castle, who returned their looks blankly.

"What?"

"Ask him a question," the psychologist suggested. "Something easy."

"Maybe if he takes him somewhere without an _audience_," the pediatrician added, looking around for an empty room.

By this time Montgomery had joined them, drawn by the scream and the fact that Castle was holding the youngest witness he'd ever had in the precinct.

"Take him into my office, Castle," he offered.

Castle nodded, and carried the child into the Captain's office, and closed the door with his free hand. Then he sat down on the leather sofa, the little boy still in his lap. For a few minutes he just held him, gently stroking his back to try and relax him, and then he pulled his head back a little so he could look the boy in the eyes. Those blue eyes looked right back at him, a little calmer than they had been, and without any of the fear that had lit them up earlier. Now he just looked tired. Castle could relate. Maybe the kid had stayed up all night on the Internet, too.

"You okay?" he asked, softly.

The boy nodded.

At least they knew he spoke English, now.

"Ready to tell me your name?"

He shook his head.

"Are you hungry?"

There was a hesitation and then he nodded again.

"Me, too. We should have some _hamburgers_. What do you think?"

The boy nodded.

"My name's Richard, but my friends call me Rick. _You_ can call me Rick."

The boy put his head down onto Castle's shoulder, done with the conversation. Castle sighed, but there wasn't much he could do. After another ten minutes or so, the little body went limp and he knew from past experience – and the fact that he now seemed to weigh twice what he had – that the boy had fallen asleep in his arms. He looked over at the window and saw Beckett and the others standing around, watching, and waved them in with a motion of his head.

"Did he tell you anything?" Beckett asked, whispering.

"No. But he responded to my questions, so we know he understood me."

The pediatrician took him from Castle, carefully, and gave him a quick checkup while he was asleep and pliable.

"He's probably five or six," he announced. "But he's really thin and small for his age. He's also very pale, which means he doesn't get outside much." He lifted the boy's shirt and checked his skin carefully. "I don't see any signs of abuse. No bruising, no scars, and no bumps."

"So he's healthy?" Beckett asked.

The pediatrician shrugged.

"He could gain a few pounds, but aside from that… yeah. Some kids don't gain a lot of weight at this age, and he might be one of them."

"Thank you, doctor."

"So what's going to happen now?" Castle asked, when the pediatrician handed him over to the psychologist.

"We find his parents," Beckett said. "And see what their son is doing in a closet at a murder scene. Ryan's checking with missing persons right now."

"And until then?"

"We wait and see if anyone reported him missing, and if not then we take him to a foster home where he'll be taken care of until we find out who he belongs with," the psychologist assured him.

"We're going to want to know where he's going so we can try to question him later on," Beckett said. "Maybe after he's had a chance to get some sleep and something to eat he'll be ready to talk."

"But…"

Everyone looked at Castle, who hesitated and looked at the child who was sleeping peacefully in the woman's arms.

"What?" Beckett asked.

"Well… what if we need him for something?" he asked, lamely.

"You'll know where he is," the psychologist reminded him. "I'll make sure the foster parents know what's going on and that you have access to him if you need it."

Beckett smiled and started to say something when Detective Ryan walked in, shaking his head.

"No one's missing him. At least no one _knows_ they are. We came up blank."

The psychologist nodded, and looked down as the boy started stirring in her arms. "We'll take him for now, then," she said, tightening her grip on him as he opened his eyes and realized almost immediately that he'd been taken away from Castle. "That's our cue to go," she added, apologetically. "Better to take him before he has a chance to latch on to Mr. Castle again."

She handed Beckett her card, and left the office quickly, followed by the pediatrician who had no reason to stay once the child was gone – although she looked like she wanted to chat with Castle for a few minutes. A sudden screech told them that the boy was fully awake and aware but she didn't bring him back, and there was another wail a moment later that cut off abruptly as the elevator closed.

Beckett looked over at Castle, who was watching the doorway and the hall beyond it, not paying attention to the others.

"Castle?"

He turned, startled.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

He nodded.

"I'm fine. What do we do now?"

She looked at the other two detectives before looking at him again.

"We find out exactly who our dead guy is and then we figure out who killed him."


	4. Chapter 4

Several hours later they were in front of the white board. Taped at the top of it was a picture of the dead man – his driver's license photo – and under that were written the eight names that they had managed to uncover on him just by documents they'd found hidden in the apartment he'd been found in.

"John Smith. Harvey Hudson. Jamie Doan. Richard Johnson. Kenneth Anderson. William Ryder. Robert Staley, and James Jackson," Beckett said, shaking her head. "That's nuts."

"Why would someone have so many aliases?" Castle asked. "I thought only spies have so many names."

Beckett glanced over to Esposito, who nodded.

"We sent out a bulletin to all agencies with his picture to see if anyone recognizes him."

"Some of them won't admit it even if he _is_ theirs," Beckett muttered, more to herself. "Prints?"

"Checked," Ryan said, shaking his head. "Nothing came up."

"He's never been fingerprinted?" Castle asked.

"We don't print _everyone_, Castle," Beckett told him. "Only people who have been processed for some reason."

"We're checking the other names still," Esposito said. "But it's going to be a while before we get all the info back. We're also checking missing persons for any of _those _names."

"Good. Hopefully we'll get a hit on one of them."

They all looked up at the board again, and this time they were all looking at a picture of the little boy that they'd taken. His face was mostly hidden by Castle's shoulder, but one blue eye had peeked out when Castle had mentioned the camera, so they'd managed to get a decent shot.

"We haven't heard anything on him, either…" Esposito said, shaking his head. He wasn't any more immune to the mournful expression than any of the others.

"Who could lose a little kid and not be frantic?" Castle asked. "If it was Alexis I'd be tearing my hair out and hovering over you guys until I had her back."

Beckett could hear frustration in his voice, and knew that he was thinking about how the little boy had screamed when they'd taken him from the station. Her expression was understanding when she answered.

"There could be a hundred different reasons no one is looking for him, Castle," she told him. "Something might have happened to the parents – or _parent_. On the darker side, parents might be passed out somewhere, might be druggies, or for that matter they might be illegal and afraid to come forward for fear of being deported so they would be looking for him on their own…"

He shook his head, but showed that he understood what she was saying.

"Which could explain why he looked so uncared for."

"Right."

"Without having him in the system, we're going to have to wait for someone to come forward, or for _him _to tell us who he is," Esposito said, shaking his head, too. "That's going to make it harder."

Castle sighed, and leaned his head on his hand, looking at the picture of the dead man, trying to see in his expression what a man like him would be doing with a little boy who almost certainly didn't belong to him. But just because he was sure, he knew that if he did his thinking out loud the detectives would be able to add their insights to his own.

"It's obvious that the dead man was living in the apartment," he said, more to himself than them. "But just as obvious is that the boy _didn't_ live there. Right?"

"Right. There weren't any supplies for a kid," Ryan agreed. He knew that Castle hadn't had a chance to do much looking around the crime scene like he normally did. Not with the boy attached to his chest like he had been. "The food in the cupboards and the fridge was all adult stuff, no cereal or juice or anything that would tell you that there was a child living there. There weren't any clothes aside from Mr. Smith's in the place, and no one I spoke with from the neighbors ever mentioned the boy."

"Which means that he couldn't have been there long. Any dead bodies turn up in the last day or so that might be the parents?"

Beckett looked over at the other two detectives.

"Already looking into it," Esposito told her. "It's going to take a while to get that information back."

"Good work." She looked back up at the board. "We'll have more to go on once we get all the information gathered on the aliases, get the report from Lanie and the hear back from the other agencies. Until then we'll have to wait."

Castle looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn't say anything. Beckett knew he was impatient to help the boy, and she understood completely since she felt the same way. She waited for Esposito and Ryan to head out and sat down in the chair across from the one he was in.

"Want to go get some lunch?"

"Can we go back to the crime scene?"

"CSI are going over it right now. We would be in the way."

"We could-"

"Beckett!" She turned and saw one of the other detectives holding up a phone. "Line 4 for you."

She nodded and picked up the phone on the desk that they were sitting by.

"Beckett." She looked over at Castle, who waited for her to shoo him away. She didn't, though. Instead she raised an eyebrow and then nodded. "Yeah, we can do that. What's the address?" She scribbled an address down on a piece of paper and thanked the person on the phone and hung up.

"Did you get a hit on something?" Castle asked, leaning forward.

"No. Want to take a drive with me? A friend of yours is having some trouble…"

He stood up.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

A half hour later they were standing on the porch of a modest home in a quiet neighborhood. They could hear screaming coming from inside, and Beckett hesitated, wondering if she should ring the bell again or pound on the door to be heard from inside.

The door opened before she was forced to choose, and the social worker that had taken the little boy from the precinct answered. She smiled when she saw who it was, but she also looked a little harried and concerned. The screaming was louder with the door opened, and it was familiar to both of them.

"Thank you so much for coming," she told them, gesturing for them to come in. "We haven't been able to settle him at all, and I'm getting worried. Normally, we will bring a child to a short care foster home and they quiet down once they're away from the confusion of a police station – or a social office – and things are less frantic and scary for them. This little boy is an exception." She looked at Castle. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to try and help us calm him down and see if we can get him settled?"

He nodded.

"Of course."

She led them into the living room where a young woman was cuddling the little boy – or was trying to. He was arching away from her, his little face brilliant red and his eyes screwed tightly closed, his screaming loud, but more hoarse than the first one he'd heard at the precinct.

Castle hurried over, glancing at the woman for permission before he reached out and touched the child's cheek.

"Hey…"

The boy opened his eyes, and Beckett almost smiled at the surprised expression in the little face. The scream stopped abruptly and he twisted in the woman's grasp, reaching for Castle, who took him in his arms and at the same time pulled a handkerchief from his pocket.

"He's been screaming since he got here," the woman told them, watching while Castle dried the tears that were smearing the little face. "I can't get him to calm down."

"It's okay," Castle crooned to the little boy, who was watching him intently, his hands clutched in his shirt once more. "I'm here, buddy."

"If you could help us get him to relax," the social worker said. "We can try to get him to eat something and that might make it easier for him."

"You know what would make it _easier _for him?" Castle asked. "What if _I _take him until we figure out who he belongs to?"

The social worker frowned.

"That's not possible, I'm afraid. It's nice of you to offer, but you have to be cleared to-"

"Who could give me that clearance?" Castle asked. "The mayor's office?"

"Well, I suppose that they _could_, but that's not likely to happen. You'd have to fill out applications and-"

Beckett smiled when Castle put the handkerchief into his shirt pocket and reached for his cell phone. She was well aware what was coming and it was nice to not be on the receiving end of it for a change.

"Pardon me for just a minute," he said, turning and carrying the boy over to the corner to have a quiet conversation with the person on the other end of his call.

"Does he have any experience with children?" the social worker asked Beckett.

"He has a sixteen year old daughter."

She started to say something else, but Castle turned back around, and held his phone out to the social worker.

"The mayor wants to talk to you."

Eyebrows raised in surprise, the woman took the phone from him.

"Hello?"

Beckett turned to Castle as the woman turned away like he had before.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

The writer smiled, looking down at the boy in his arms.

"It's a great idea. Besides, he's not happy here. Between my mom and myself we'll be able to take care of him just as well as anyone."

"You live with your mother?" the foster mother asked.

Castle nodded, knowing she was going to take that the wrong way but far too self-assured to take offense.

"We're a very close family."

The social worker turned back to them and handed him his cell phone back.

"Okay, Mr. Castle. We're going to give you custody – temporarily – until we find out who he belongs to."

Castle smiled at the boy, who was watching him.

"You want to come stay with me?"

He nodded, his blue eyes hopeful and his grip tightening on Castle's shirt, just in case someone tried to take him from him.

"Let's go, then."

He turned and headed for the car, not willing to give any of them a chance to change their minds.


	5. Chapter 5

"You can't sit in my lap while we drive," Castle told the little boy when they got outside. "It's too dangerous." He whimpered and buried his head against Castle's shoulder, but Castle pulled his head back so he could look at the boy eye to eye. "I'm not _leaving _you," he promised. "I'll be in the car with you the whole time."

The boy hesitated, but relaxed his death grip a little. Beckett came out and joined them as well, looking from Castle to the boy.

"You guys ready?"

He nodded.

"Do you mind stopping at a store so we can pick him up something to wear?"

"Not at all." She smiled at the little boy, noticing that he was actually looking around a little bit this time. "Are you hungry?" she asked him directly.

He hesitated, looked at Castle who nodded, and then he nodded as well.

"Hamburgers?" she asked.

He nodded, again.

"And _milkshakes_?" Castle asked him.

Another nod.

She opened the back door of the car and Castle settled the boy into the seat without too much trouble. He buckled him in firmly and knew the child was watching him carefully as he shut the door and then got in the front beside Beckett.

"Do we have time?" he asked her. "Or would you rather drop us off and we can get a cab?"

"We have plenty of time," she assured him. "Esposito and Ryan will call if they find out anything."

Besides, she wanted to be around her only witness on the off chance Castle managed to get him to talk.

OOOOOOOOOO

They stopped first at Remy's. Only the greatest place to get a burger as far as Beckett was concerned and a good place for them to sit in a normal place to give Castle's young charge a chance to relax a little more. The more the better, as far as she was concerned, since she figured if he was calm enough she might actually get his name out of him. It would be a good start. Besides, the boy was way too thin as far as she was concerned, no matter what the pediatrician said.

Castle opened the car door, but instead of giving the youngster a chance to cling to him, he offered him only his hand, hoping to get him to walk beside him instead. The social worker had found him a pair of shoes, after all. The boy took it and got out of the car, but wrapped his arms around Castle's leg when he couldn't get to the rest of him.

Beckett grinned. Castle wasn't the genius he thought he was.

He scowled at her amusement and reached down and scooped the child up into his arms, where he promptly snuggled against his shoulder. It was a definite improvement that he didn't immediately bury his face against Castle's chest, though. Instead he looked over at Beckett, watching her with his chin resting on the writer's shoulder.

She led the way into the restaurant and they were seated immediately. Luckily the boy didn't cause a fuss when Castle had one of the waitstaff bring a booster seat so he could sit in a chair of his own – although it was pushed right up beside Castle's.

The meal went well, even though the boy didn't say a word. He did, however, eat everything they put in front of him. Nothing too heavy, since the last thing either of them wanted was an already traumatized child to get a bellyache to boot. While they ate their late lunch they tried to get the child to talk to them, but he would only respond by nodding or shaking his head, and even then not all that often.

The only thing that went like they'd hoped was that the burgers were amazing, and the shakes were thick. They also discovered that Castle's young friend didn't like pickles, but did like strawberry shakes and was more than willing to eat his onions as well as Beckett's. They also discovered that he was just as messy as any little boy – although neither of them had any experience with one to have known just how messy it was.

"Good thing we're going to go buy new clothes…" Beckett said with a grin an hour later as they walked out of the restaurant. Castle looked down at the boy he was carrying, his clothing covered in spilled milkshake – and now Castle's shirt was covered as well. His slacks were spattered with mustard and ketchup, and even Beckett hadn't been safe, since the replacement milkshake had gone the other direction and taken care of her outfit.

"Yep."

They looked at each other and chuckled, drawing the attention of the little boy, who flashed them a brief smile, too.

Surprised, Beckett glanced over at Castle to see if he'd noticed. He winked, showing that he had, and tousled the boy's hair.

It was a start.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Esposito looked up when Beckett walked into the precinct. He frowned.

"New outfit?"

She rolled her eyes.

"You're so observant, Esposito. You should be a _detective_."

Ryan snickered.

"Where's Castle?"

"He took our witness home with him."

"The little boy?"

"Yeah."

"He got him back?"

She quickly explained the story of the boy and how they'd taken custody of him – and why.

"We took him out to eat, filled him to the gills with burgers and then tried to take him shopping for new clothes. He fell asleep in the changing room while Castle was trying to get him into his new clothes. So I dropped them off at Castle's." She looked at the white board. "Where are we at on the case?"

Esposito shrugged and handed her a file.

"No hits yet on the names our DB used, and we've heard from CIA and FBI and neither are claiming our guy. We still have several others we're waiting on. Lanie sent her report over and has narrowed the time of death to anywhere from 3AM to 5AM. She says there's no indication of any narcotics in his system, and no trauma to the body besides the gunshot wounds."

She looked at the file, shaking her head.

"Assuming he hid _before _the murder, that little boy was in that closet a long time…"

"No wonder he's so freaked out," Ryan said.

"Yeah. Poor baby."

She looked at the two pictures on the board again, her eyes going from the scared glance of the boy and then the oddly expressionless eyes of the dead man. She studied the picture for a few minutes, trying to decide if it was the face of a spy or some other kind of government agent, or some poor sap that had been involved in a robbery of some kind – although the man's wallet was obviously untouched since they'd found it on his body.

"Who are you…?" she whispered, softly. "And where did you find our little guy? Who is _he_?"

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was Alexis who opened the door when her dad rang the doorbell. She was surprised to see not only her father, but also a child sound asleep in his arms.

"Who is that?" she asked as he walked in. She frowned. "Tell me he's not a little brother I never knew about…"

Castle smiled as he struggled to close the door behind him. The little boy was completely knocked out, his cheek resting on Castle's collar and drooling on his neck as he snored softly in his ear.

"We're not sure who he is," he whispered to his daughter, handing her a bag that was bulging with clothes and other items he'd bought for the boy. "But I'm pretty sure he's _not_ mine."

She smiled.

"He's cute."

"Yeah. But really scared, poor guy. We found him at a murder scene, hiding in the closet. He won't let anyone but me hold him, and he won't talk."

"Really?"

"Yep. He's going to stay the night with us – maybe two, until we figure out who he belongs to."

She set the bag down on the island.

"Where's he going to sleep?"

"On the couch, for now."

They walked into the living room and Castle settled the boy on the couch, stretching his arm to get some circulation back into it. Carrying a little kid around wasn't something he'd done in a long time and he was woefully out of condition.

"Tell me you fed him?"

"We took him for burgers."

"Did you bring me one?"

"It was an hour ago?"

"So… no?"

"It would have been _cold_. Besides, we had to go buy some clothes for…" He trailed off as she crossed her arms over her chest, listening to him. "_What_?"

"You already love him more than me…"

He smiled, well aware that she was way too confident to ever think such a thing.

"We could have ice cream."

"I feel better already."


	6. Chapter 6

Castle spent a fairly relaxed evening at home with his daughter – and eventually his mother, who came home around ten. She was filled in on the story of the boy, took a moment to look in on him sleeping on the couch and came back smiling.

"He's cute."

"Yeah."

"Reminds me of when you'd fall asleep on the couch."

Alexis smiled at the look on her father's face at that.

"Are you going to leave him there?" she asked.

Castle shrugged.

"It's there or in my bed," he told them. "If I put him in my bed then I have to stay up there in case he wakes up and starts screaming. If I leave him on the couch I can stick around until he wakes up so he knows he's not alone."

It was clear he'd thought it out – and he had. Alexis leaned over and kissed him.

"I'm going to go do my homework and go to bed."

"Night sweetheart."

Martha looked at him.

"Do you need any help with him?"

"Nah. He and I get along well. If he wakes up I can handle him."

She didn't look convinced but she rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment before turning and heading for her room.

"Call me if you need me."

"Thank you, Mother."

"Goodnight, Richard."

He smiled and went into the living room, checking on the boy to make sure he was asleep and then looking toward his office door. He hesitated, well aware that if the boy woke up he'd raise a fuss if he found himself alone. Instead of sitting in his office, he went into the room long enough to pull his laptop off his desk and then went back into the living room. He double-checked the blanket that covered the boy to make sure he was warm, and then settled himself on the other end of the couch from where the boy slept.

"If I'm going to be up, I might as well do some reading…" he murmured to himself with a slight smile, turning on the laptop and getting comfortable.

OOOOOOOOOO

The man was about 6 foot tall – maybe a little more – with dark hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a suit that was worth several thousand dollars, and had a pistol hidden in a shoulder holster under the jacket. He wasn't thin, but he wasn't fat, and he wasn't really happy at the moment, which showed quite clearly in his expression as he looked at the people who were standing around him.

Tough looking men, they were watching him carefully. All of them were well aware of his vicious temper and none were willing to say the wrong thing just then, despite the fact that all of them were well-armed and more than capable of killing. All of them had proved just that at one time or another. And all were fiercely loyal to the man in front of them. They were just aware of how dangerous he could be.

"Any news?" the man asked.

"Not yet," came the reply.

"_Someone_ has to know where he is," the man told them. "I want you to find that person and make them talk. Wherever he is, I want to know. Whoever has him, I want to know." He looked at the men around him, catching the eyes of every one of them one after another until he'd looked at each of them. "Find him for me."

They all nodded, and left the room. The man waited until the door was closed, and then sighed. He didn't like to wait – he much preferred to be out on the street himself – but this time he knew he had to be very careful. There was too much at stake for him to allow impatience to cause something to go wrong.

"He'd better be safe," he muttered to himself, looking out a window at the city that was spread out below him. "Or _someone _is going to pay."

OOOOOOOOO

The sound of rustling pulled Castle from the story he was reading and he looked over at the other end of the couch just in time to see the boy sit up and look around. In the faint light of the laptop and the only lamp that was on he saw first worry and fear and then relief when the boy noticed Castle sitting nearby.

He smiled, setting his laptop on the coffee and patting the spot beside him.

"Good evening," he said as the boy pushed the blanket aside and scrambled over to sit beside him, pressing tightly against his side but not holding onto him. He looked at his watch. "Or good morning, I suppose…"

The boy looked up at him, and Castle tapped his nose, which elicited a faint smile.

"Did you sleep well?"

The boy nodded.

"Feeling okay?"

Another nod.

"Good. Are you hungry?"

The boy shook his head.

"Still tired?"

He shook his head again.

Even in the ill lit room, he could see there were smudges of dirt on the boy's cheeks, left over from all the crying he'd done that day.

"_You _need a bath, little man."

The boy shook his head again, this time grinning at him.

Castle nodded, tapping him on the nose again and standing up.

"Come on. We got you some pajamas remember? We'll get you cleaned up, get you fed again and then we need to get some sleep."

He headed for the stairs, looking back and gesturing for the boy to follow him. After a slight hesitation, he did just that – much to Castle's surprise. Stopping just long enough to grab pajamas out of the bag and some clean underwear, he led the boy upstairs.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Richard, what _are _you doing?"

Man and boy both looked up, startled, at the sound of Martha's voice coming from the bathroom door. She frowned in confusion but only for a moment, and then smiled. The bathtub was filled with bubbles and steaming water, and the little boy was in the tub, covered in suds with his hair soaped up and styled into a Mohawk. Her own son, having decided that it looked like way too much fun to be left out, had done the same thing with his own and had stripped himself down to boxers and a t-shirt to keep from getting his clothes wet.

He looked at her guiltily.

"Nothing."

She rolled her eyes and took in the mess of water and bubbles on the bathroom floor.

"What on earth made you think that you had to give him a bath at _3 AM_?"

"He was dirty, Mother."

She looked at the boy, who grinned up at her, and she smiled, not at all immune to his innocent charm.

"Rinse him off, Richard," she ordered, going back out into the hall and getting a fluffy towel. "He should be in bed at this time of night, not cavorting with other children. You're going to throw off his schedule and he'll be a zombie tomorrow because of it."

Castle winked at the boy, but did what he was told, rinsing the shampoo out of the boy's hair and then rinsing off all the bubbles just as Martha reappeared. She swooped in without any fuss and swept the child out of the tub, wrapping the towel around him and hugging him close to her as she dried him off expertly.

"Now… what's your name?" she asked the boy as she dried his hair.

"He's not going to tell you, Mother," Castle told her. "He's not talking."

She waved a hand at him. "Nonsense. He'll tell _me_, of course." She turned her attention back to the boy, brushing his hair back from his eyes. "What's your name Sweetheart?"

"Joel."


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's note: We're learning things!_

OOOOOOOOO

Beckett was used to her phone ringing in the middle of the night. She was a cop, after all, and crime didn't always happen in the daytime. Even more, she was a _homicide detective_ and far more people were killed in the middle of the night in New York than were during the day. At least the ones who died at the hands of someone else. So when her phone rang, she groaned, but peeked over at her clock to see what time it was.

_"Three-thirty?"_

She sighed and reached for the phone, wondering what new case was going to be thrown her way now.

"Beckett."

"His name's Joel Canton."

She frowned, still about half asleep.

"_Castle_?"

"Yeah. Did I wake you?"

_He_ sounded wide-awake, which was a little annoying. Until she realized what he said.

"Joel?" She sat up in her bed. "You found out his name?"

"Yeah."

She reached for a pen and a piece of paper.

"Canton?"

"Right."

"What else did you learn?"

"He likes my mother."

She smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Anything _useful_?"

"No. He fell asleep the minute he got out of the tub. I thought-"

"You gave him a _bath _at 3:30 in the morning?"

"He was _dirty_."

Castle sounded defensive, which made her smile again as she looked down at the name on the paper.

"I'll call it in and have our guys run a check on the name to match it against missing persons. We should have more information by morning."

"That's why I called you instead of waiting until morning," he told her.

"I'm glad you did," she assured him. "Anything else?"

"You want to come over?" he asked her. "The bath water is still warm."

She rolled her eyes, again, amused despite herself and glad he couldn't see her.

"Good night, Castle."

"Night, detective."

The line went dead as he hung up and Beckett dialed the precinct, still smiling.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Get him settled?" Castle asked his mother as she joined him in the living room. He handed her a glass of wine, knowing that she'd need it. He certainly did.

It had been a little more difficult with Joel than he'd made it sound to Beckett. True, getting his first name had been easy – and his last name wasn't too hard, either. But when Martha had asked him what his mother's name was – hoping they'd get some idea of who he belonged to – the little boy had burst into tears.

Not hysterical tears like before, but heart-rending sorrowful sobs that had him clinging to Martha the way he'd been clinging to Castle earlier that day. He'd cried himself to sleep almost immediately, and Castle had helped get him dressed into his pajamas before his mother had claimed him again and told him she was going to put him in his bed for the night.

"Poor baby…" she said, coming over and sitting down beside him on the couch with a tired sigh and taking a sip of the wine. "They haven't any idea who he belongs to?"

He shook his head.

"They've checked. Hopefully with his name they'll have a better chance of figuring out who is missing him."

"How can someone _not_ be missing him?" she asked, echoing his own words from earlier.

He told her everything that Beckett and the others had told him about the various things that could have happened to the boy's parents, and she shook her head sadly.

"Maybe I should cancel my trip tomorrow?" she asked. "In case you need help with him?"

He smiled at the offer. She had been invited to go with one of her friends to DC and had been excited about the trip since the invitation and hadn't spoken of much else the past week.

"I think you should go and have a good time," he told her, reaching out and taking her hand, briefly. "We have his name – thanks to you – the rest will come eventually."

She nodded.

"You'll call me when you find out who he is?"

"You'll be the first to know," he promised.

With that promise, she finished her wine and stood up.

"I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late."

Once her baby, always her baby, after all.

"Yes, Mother."

OOOOOOOOOO

The call came in around 5AM.

"Yeah."

"Keller is dead."

"What? When?"

"We're not sure, yet."

"Who did it?"

"We're still trying to find that out."

"And Joel?"

"There's no sign of him."

"Was he with Keller?"

"We're not sure."

"We need him."

"I know. We're looking into it."

"What's Martin doing?"

"Same thing we are. Looking for the kid."

"Keep an eye on him."

"Right."

The line went dead.

The woman looked at her watch, decided that she was awake and up now and she might as well get her day started. She wasn't going to sleep any longer, anyway. Slipping out from under her blankets she got out of bed and went to the window, looking out over the city that was just starting to wake up.

"Damn it." She picked up her cell phone and hit the speed dial. "This is Williams. See if NYPD has put out any feelers for lost agents and get back to me immediately."

She hung up and went to take a shower. The phone rang again before was done drying off. She wasn't surprised.

Her day was going to be a long one. And not at all enjoyable. No one liked admitting they lost an agent, after all, and she hated it more than most.


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Okay, I don't normally count reviews but there weren't very many for the last chapter which makes me wonder if the story is not interesting to you guys. Just checking. If it is, just let me know. It won't hurt my feelings._

OOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning Beckett was in earlier than usual. She was interested to see if any word had come in on Joel now that they knew his name and could narrow their search for anyone looking for him.

She was surprised to see that Esposito was already in, drinking a cup of coffee and looking at a folder at his desk. He looked up when she walked in, carrying a cup of coffee as well.

"You're in early."

She nodded.

"Yeah. Any news?"

He shook his head.

"Not on the kid. The name Joel Canton didn't hit any flags. We're still looking, though."

"Damn."

He handed her the file he'd been looking at.

"Been a bad night for Vice."

"Yeah?"

"Six dead, all of the hits look professional."

She frowned.

"Seriously? Are they connected?"

He shrugged.

"We're looking into it. Something is going on, though, that's for sure."

She sat down and started looking through the file, which wasn't complete by any means since it was just preliminary reports on each dead person they'd found.

"Did you talk to Castle yet, today?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"He probably won't be in until late. Joel was up late last night."

"At least we have a name to go with the face…" he said, pointing at the white board where they'd put the name _Joel_ under the picture they had of the boy.

"It's a start," she agreed, turning her attention back to the file. She was still reading when Ryan made his appearance a half an hour later.

"_Someone _is looking for something…"

She looked up at him.

"What?"

"Or a _who_…" he added. "They managed to collar a couple of suspects last night, and even though they're not very talkative, they admitted that there's a reward out on the street for information."

"What kind of information?" Beckett asked.

He shrugged, looking annoyed because he didn't have much more to give her.

"Theo Martin is looking for something. That's all we can get so far."

She frowned.

"Theo Martin? As in the king of the _Underground Mafia_ Martin?"

Ryan nodded.

"That's the one."

"What could _he _be looking for?"

"No one will say."

Beckett sighed. She had other things to worry about – namely her dead man and the little boy from the closet – but she couldn't help but think that something very bad was on the horizon if Theo Martin was beginning to stir.

"See if you can find out."

He started to say something, but a new arrival drew his attention – and everyone else's as well. Esposito raised an eyebrow.

"Who is _that_?"

Beckett frowned. She didn't recognize the woman walking toward them, but she was obviously a Fed. There was just something about the way she walked and an air about her that Beckett herself had.

The woman stopped to ask a uniformed officer a question, he turned and pointed toward the trio, and she looked their direction.

"We're about to find out," Ryan said, as Esposito stood up at the stranger's approach.

"Detective Beckett?"

She nodded.

"And you are?"

"Agent Williams, ATF." She pulled out a leather folder and handed it over.

"What can I do for you, Agent Williams?" Beckett asked, handing the ID back to Esposito, who wrote down the name and other pertinent information from it.

Williams glanced at the white board, and hesitated, looking at the two pictures. Beckett saw her eyes narrow slightly.

"It's true. He _is _dead…"

Beckett wasn't the only one who followed her gaze.

"You know him?" Ryan asked.

"Brandon Keller. He's one of my Agents." She paused. "He _was_, I mean."

"And the boy?"

She shook her head.

"I don't recognize him. He was with Keller?"

Beckett nodded, wondering at the slight hesitation she'd just seen. She knew it meant something, she just wasn't sure what. But it made her instantly alert, although she hid it immediately.

"We found him at the scene."

"Where is he?"

"He's safe. What was Keller working on?"

"I'm not sure. Something to do with Theo Martin, but he was in deep and we haven't had a lot of contact."

"Theo Martin?" Beckett repeated. "What is the ATF looking at Martin for? I know DEA and Vice have been watching him but I didn't know ATF-"

"That's need to know, Detective," Williams interrupted. "And right now, _you _don't have that need to know. Sorry."

Beckett shrugged.

"That's fine. We'll release Keller's body as soon as we have all the tests finished."

"_And _all the information from the crime scene…"

Beckett shook her head.

"Right now that's need to know. And _ATF _doesn't have that need to know."

Williams' eyes narrowed.

"I'll be back, Detective."

"We'll be here."

Williams took her ID from Esposito and left without another word, and Ryan whistled low.

"Boy, _she's_ hiding something…"

"Yeah." Beckett turned to Esposito. "Get a hold of Castle – using an unregistered cell phone – and tell him not to come in until he hears from me."

"You think she's looking for the kid?"

"Oh yeah. She's looking for him."

OOOOOOOOO

"The police have him."

Martin frowned.

"Where?"

"We're still looking. They found him in a closet, though."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah. Seems to be."

"Find a way into the Social Services records. If the cops have him, they had to stash him somewhere. I want to know where."

"You got it."

OOOOOOOOOO

The buzz of his cell phone woke Castle. Not immediately, since he was _really_ tired, but when it buzzed again he mumbled a curse and opened his eyes, rolling over toward the sound and reaching for the phone.

"Castle."

"Hey, it's Esposito."

Castle turned in his bed, looking immediately at the little boy who was sleeping beside him. Sound asleep and with his thumb in his mouth, Joel was still out.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Beckett wanted me to pass on a message."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Don't come in until you hear from her."

"What's going on?"

"We'll tell you later. Just stay out of trouble, okay?"

"Okay."

Esposito hung up and Castle looked at the number he'd called from. It wasn't Esposito's phone. Which was odd. Odd enough for Castle to know something was _definitely_ going on. He set the phone down and groaned, looking at his watch and wondering why everyone was already up and what he missed.

He allowed his mind to sift through every possibility he could think of but without more information there wasn't much he could think of. With a soft sigh to avoid waking the boy, he slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He needed a shower and some coffee. And not necessarily in that order.


	9. Chapter 9

His mother had already left. When he stumbled down to the kitchen, dressed for the day but still a little damp from his shower, he'd found a note on the coffee pot from her telling him to call her if he needed her and listing her entire itinerary. She'd thoughtfully started coffee, so it was hot and fresh and he sat down in front of his laptop to finish the story he'd been reading the night before and drink a cup while he waited for Alexis and Joel to wake up.

"Are you writing?" Alexis asked him, coming into the kitchen looking sleepy but dressed and somewhat ready for her day.

He shook his head, reaching for her hand to pull her close enough for a good morning kiss.

"I'm _reading_."

She looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Fanfiction. Ever heard of it?"

"No. Is it good?"

He shrugged.

"I'm still reading. You wouldn't _believe_ what some of these people write, though…"

"What's it about?"

"Apparently it can be about pretty much anything. This stuff that I'm reading, though, is about Beckett."

"Really?"

She looked a little closer.

"Well, _Nikki Heat_," he corrected. "But it's no secret that Beckett's the person behind Nikki Heat, so some of them are stories about Nikki Heat and some are stories about Beckett."

"That's odd."

"Kind of interesting, actually," he told her with a slight smile. "Especially since _I'm_ even in some of them."

"Really?" Now she tried to look over his shoulder at the site he was on. "That's ironic, isn't it? Writing about a writer…"

He closed the laptop.

"Some of them are _really_ steamy."

"The ones with you and Beckett?"

"Some of them."

She started to say something else, but a tousled head of dark hair peeked shyly around the corner, catching their attention. Both of them smiled a greeting to the boy, and Castle gestured for him to enter the room and join them.

He trotted over in bare feet and promptly climbed into Castle's lap, but he smiled over at Alexis, clearly more comfortable in mixed company today than he had been the day before.

"Good morning," she told him. "I'm Alexis."

He didn't respond, but Castle gave him a gentle squeeze.

"That's my _daughter_," he told the boy. "You can tell her your name, she won't hurt you…"

"Joel."

Alexis put her hand out to the boy, who took it with his own.

"It's nice to meet you, Joel," she told him. "Are you hungry?"

He nodded.

"Me, too. We should have my dad take us out to IHOP. What do you think?"

He nodded again, turning to look at Castle hopefully.

"I think that can be arranged. You have to get dressed, though. We can't go like that."

"Want me to help you?" Alexis asked.

Joel hesitated, but nodded, and she held out her hand to him once more. This time when he took it, she pulled him out of her dad's lap and up into her arms, hugging him tightly.

"His clothes are on my dresser," Castle told him. "Call if you need any help."

"We're okay," she told him, enjoying the fact that she wasn't the youngest in the house. Sometimes she _really_ wished she had a little brother. "Aren't we, Joel?"

"Yes."

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett looked up when Esposito walked over to her desk.

"What did you find out?"

"She's genuine," he said, handing over a thin folder, and nodding at Ryan when he walked over to join them. "Rebecca Williams. She's one of the top ATF field agents in the New York office. Has about a dozen agents under her and according to what I was able to find out, she is a bit of a maverick when it comes to how she handles her cases, but she has a very high arrest rate."

"What's her connection with Keller?" Beckett asked, looking up at the white board, where they now had a name for their dead man. One that wasn't one of the eight they'd already had for him.

"Keller is _new_," Esposito told them. "Way too new to be in as deep as she's saying he was. ATF isn't any different than we are when it comes to green agents. They start them gradually and work up to the heavy stuff. Keller joined up less than six months ago."

"Think she was lying about what he was doing?" Ryan asked.

Esposito shrugged.

"She was lying about the other stuff. Who knows?"

"See if you can find out," Beckett told him. "Ask around. Also, check and see what – if any – phone records there are from the landline in the apartment we found him in."

"Think he'd do something so dumb?" Esposito asked.

She shrugged.

"Rookies make rookie mistakes. You never know."

"Okay."

"What are you going to do?" Ryan asked, watching her stand up.

"I'm going to go talk to our witness and see what I can learn from him."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Social service records aren't something you can just come in and ask for," the woman said, studying the ID that she'd been handed and matching it carefully with the woman standing in front of her. "I don't care who you are."

Williams frowned.

"You're saying I need a _subpoena_?"

"No. I'm saying I won't give them to you, period. Not without proper authorization. These aren't _criminals_ we're discussing, Agent Williams. They're children who have done nothing wrong and we're not going to put them through any more trauma than they already have been through. Not without good reason. Since _your_ reason is less than convincing, you'll need to go above my head."

"Let me talk to your supervisor, then."

"I don't have one. I answer to the Mayor. Feel free to call him."

Frustrated and doing her very best to hide just how annoyed she was, Williams took her ID back and left without another word. Going to the Mayor wasn't going to happen. She would find a different way.

She was very good at finding alternative ways to get what she wanted, after all.


	10. Chapter 10

"You're never going to believe this…"

Theo Martin frowned at the amused look on his number two man's face.

"What?"

"The cops stashed the boy with a _writer_."

"What?"

"Yeah. Richard Castle. Heard of him?"

"He writes that Detective… _Heat_, or something like that."

He was a mobster; it didn't mean he didn't know how to _read_.

"Right."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't. You know that."

He _did _know it, too. Martin's frown deepened.

"Why wouldn't they stash him with a cop? Why a writer?"

"Why don't we go ask him?"

He nodded, checking the load on the gun he carried in the shoulder holster he always wore.

"Why don't we? Go get some guys, let's go visit Mr. Castle…"

OOOOOOOOOO

She was just pulling up to the street before Castle's place when her cell phone rang.

"Beckett."

"It's Esposito."

"What's up?"

"You at Castle's yet?"

"Almost."

"I'd advise you stay away from him unless you're sure you're not being tailed."

"Why?"

"Social Services just called looking for you. Seems Agent Williams is very interested in the whereabouts of our young witness, and she wasn't happy when she was told no. They thought we should know – and I figured I'd better pass it on to you."

Beckett pulled her car over and parked on a side street.

"Any idea why she's so interested in this kid?"

"Not a clue. Ryan's on the phone now, trying to find out. If there's a connection, we'll find it, but that woman _is _up to something, and if you lead her to Castle and the kid-"

"Yeah." Beckett looked in her rearview mirror, automatically, looking for someone that might not belong. "Okay, I'll head back there instead. After giving anyone who might be following me a little scenic trip. Any news on the phone records from Keller's place?"

"Still waiting on that."

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

"Right."

He hung up and so did she, and Beckett waited for traffic to clear and pulled back into the street. Maybe she'd head to midtown and get a hotdog or something – and then maybe she'd go get a cup of coffee at the new place uptown…

OOOOOOOOOO

"Anything?"

"Nothing yet. We've been all over the city in the last two hours and all she's done is get food. I'm surprised she doesn't weigh a ton. Did you try the Mayor's office?"

She hadn't planned on it, but she'd decided it was worth a try. For what good it had done her.

"They're not being very cooperative."

"Any reason why not? Usually you can get anything out of them if-"

"Something is going on," Williams interrupted. "I don't know what, or why, but they've _really_ hidden the kid, and that must mean they know who he is."

"You said they told you they didn't."

"Yeah, well… people lie, right? Especially cops."

"You shouldn't have trusted Keller…"

"He just made a mistake, that's all."

"He fouled up. If you'd had told _me _what was going on I would have-"

"You've already given me this lecture," she interrupted. "Keep an eye on Beckett. I want to know where she goes. More importantly, I want to know where she ends up."

There was a slight pause, and she wondered if she'd overstepped herself. Right now she needed to be more careful than ever not to alienate her people, and she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"I'll let you know."

"Thank you."

The line went dead and Williams scowled, able to vent her frustration now that she wasn't on the phone. Every direction she turned there was something blocking her. The kid was the key to it all. She had to find him.

"Damn it."

She sat in the car for a long time before she realized that she didn't have to find the boy. She just had to be there when someone else found him. Theo Martin was looking, she knew. He might have had more luck than she was. All she needed to do was find one of his men and get him to talk.

It sounded simple, but it wasn't, she knew. It was a good plan, though, and she knew Martin's organization well enough to know who she might be able to get the answers from. With a pleased smile, she put her car in gear and headed downtown.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"You know… I'm a _lousy _father…"

Alexis grinned at her dad, knowing he didn't mean it one bit. Even if he _did_, though, she knew better.

"Why do you say that?"

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"What time is it?"

She looked at her watch.

"Almost 1:00."

"And why aren't you in school?"

"Because _you're _a lousy father."

He smiled.

"See?"

She leaned over and hugged him, winking at Joel who was sitting across from her, finishing off a sundae.

"It's one day, and I'll catch up easily. I'm glad you're letting me play hooky. I've had a lot of fun."

Not only had they gone to IHOP, where she and Joel had practically gorged themselves on chocolate chip pancakes, but then they'd gone to the mall where they'd done a little shopping for Joel – mostly some more clothes to augment the small collection he had – but she had also picked up a new blouse and new shoes. Afterwards it had been an arcade where they'd played video games, basketball, water boats and played with the batting cages. And now they were back at home, eating ice cream and debating what they'd do for the rest of the day.

Predictably, her dad smiled.

"I'm glad you decided to come. Aren't you, Joel?"

The boy nodded, smiling as well.

"Yes."

He'd been speaking a bit more, now, and Castle had warned Alexis not to say anything about the boy's mother, which would set him off, most likely. Time enough for that later. Instead, they'd discussed ice cream, video games and easy stuff like that. And the boy had opened up nicely. He hoped it would continue when Beckett was present. Maybe they'd be able to figure out who he belonged to.

Alexis beamed at both of them, and cleared her bowl, putting it in the sink.

"What are we going to do toni-"

She was interrupted by the front door opening with a sudden and very loud crash, and a small army of strangers rushed into the apartment, weapons out.

_"Whoa!"_

Castle jumped to his feet, grabbing Joel with one hand and Alexis with the other and pulling them both behind him as the men poured down the hall and stopped in front of him, guns all pointing at him.

"Who the-"

The group parted a little, allowing a single man access, and he walked up to Castle almost casually, a large pistol in one hand. Castle heard Alexis whimper in fear, and his grip on her tightened, keeping her firmly behind him and out of the line of sights of any of the guns in the room. The other hand was holding Joel just as tightly.

"Richard Castle?"

He nodded, terrified. Not for himself as much as for Alexis and even Joel. God only knew what these guys wanted, but he had to get them out of here before something very bad happened.

"Yes."

"You have something of mine, Mr. Castle…"

Joel shifted in Castle's grip, and peeked out from behind him.

_"Daddy!"_


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Beckett returned to the precinct she was pretty sure she really _was_ being followed. Not that she actually saw someone, but there was an itch right between her shoulder blades that made her believe it even if she couldn't see whoever it was. She'd led whoever it was on a very interesting tour of every boring place she could think of, and had taken her own sweet time with it. And not once had she gone any closer to Castle's than she had been when Esposito called.

Ryan and Esposito were both on the phone when she walked in, but they both waved her over and by the time she reached their desks Ryan had ended his phone call.

"We got a hit on Joel's last name."

"Yeah? We find his folks?"

Esposito ended his call just when Ryan shook his head.

"Mom. Probably. _Marissa_ Canton, aged 28, was found dead in her home in Sea Cliff two days ago. She was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the head. Neighbors didn't see or hear anything, She'd been killed in the middle of the night – _and _her 5 yr old son is missing."

"Joel."

"Yeah. We're pretty sure we found his mom. Poor kid."

Beckett shook her head. So much for the happy ending she'd been hoping for.

"What was he doing with Keller? How does the ATF get a kid the day after his mom is murdered?"

"Two options, really…" Ryan said. "They _found _the kid and were protecting him…"

"Or they're the ones who kidnapped him."

"_And _killed his mom."

"This is crazy," Beckett told them. "Do we know if she was killed with the same weapon Keller was?"

"They're waiting on the ME report, but we'll have it soon."

Esposito sat down on the edge of his desk, looking as serious as he ever had.

"Whoever kidnapped him lost him when Keller died and we found him at the crime scene, _or_ Keller is the one who saved him from whoever killed his mom. Either way, ATF is definitely involved in this – far more than Williams has let on."

"We got the phone records from the apartment. Can you believe that was actually _his_ apartment?" Ryan said, handing over the folder that was getting larger every time they added new information to it.

"Seriously? He took Joel to his actual apartment? No matter which way the story went, that was incredibly dumb."

"You said it yourself," Ryan reminded her. "Rookies make rookie mistakes."

"He probably wasn't sure what else to do with him."

"Or he'd been told to sit on him for a while."

"Either way, whoever killed Keller is almost certainly looking for Joel, now. He – or she – probably didn't even _consider _looking around the apartment for him. We need to get him someplace safe."

"Makes you wonder if Joel is what Theo Martin is looking for as well…" Esposito added.

Beckett looked over at him, realizing he could be right.

"We need to warn Castle."

OOOOOOOOOO

Castle suddenly found himself having trouble holding onto Joel, who was squirming in his grip trying to get loose.

"Daddy!"

He shouted again, excited.

Martin holstered his gun just as Joel broke free of Castle's grip, and the mobster caught his son up in a relieved hug, holding him close as the boy clung to him.

"Hey, Joel-Boy," Martin murmured, burying his face in the boy's hair for a moment. "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you…"

The boy started crying, holding him even tighter, and Castle started to take a step forward, but stopped, unwilling to move from where he was standing between the men that had just invaded his place and Alexis.

The motion caught Martin's eye, and he turned his attention to Castle, although he never loosened his grip on the boy.

"You're Castle?"

"Yes…"

"I'm Theo Martin."

Castle looked at the men in the room, and back at Martin.

"Could you ask your friends to put away their guns, please?"

Martin nodded, waving at the others in the room with the hand that wasn't holding Joel close.

"Put them away."

Every gun in the room vanished as they were holstered, and only then did Castle's grip on Alexis' arm loosen, allowing her to move to the side and get a look at the men in the room.

"Your daughter?" Martin asked, looking at Alexis.

Castle nodded.

"Yes."

The mobster nodded as well, then turned his attention to his son.

"Joel." He waited until the boy looked up at him, tears smearing his cheeks. "I need to talk to Mr. Castle for a minute. Will you stay with his daughter until I get back?"

Joel looked over at Castle and Alexis, and then at Martin, who squeezed him slightly, kissing his cheek.

"Okay."

Martin turned to Alexis, then.

"Sweetheart? Will you watch my son for me for a moment? I need to talk to your dad."

She looked between Castle and him, pale and frightened.

"You won't hurt him?"

"Alexis…" Castle didn't like her trying to protect him. That was his job.

Martin shook his head.

"I won't hurt him, honey. I just need to talk to him. I promise. You'll watch Joel for me? Keep him out of trouble?"

She nodded, and Martin walked over and passed his son over to her. She looked at her father, but he just smiled, trying to prove to her that everything was going to be okay.

The problem with that was that he wasn't all that sure it was.

Martin led the writer into the living room, leaving all his men in the kitchen, well aware that they'd protect both of the youngsters just in case something happened.


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's note: Sorry guys, I worked all weekend which just didn't give me time to do a lot of writing. Here you go._

OOOOOOOOOO

Martin led the way into the living room, but he politely gestured for Castle to have a seat once they reached it. Castle settled himself on the arm of the couch, and Martin sat down on the coffee table.

"I'm curious, Mr. Castle…" he said, almost immediately. "Why did the cops put my son into protective custody with you instead of with Social Services?"

Castle didn't see any reason to lie about it.

"They _tried _to put him with a foster home until they could figure out who he was," the writer explained. "But he screamed the entire time. He and I got along fairly well – I was there in the apartment when we found him hiding in the closet – and he was more comfortable with me, so I offered to take him home with me."

Martin's eyes narrowed slightly, and he leaned forward.

"You were there when they found him?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about that…"

Castle looked toward the kitchen, and then lowered his voice, even though he was sure that the kids wouldn't be able to hear him.

"There was a man on the floor with three bullet wounds in his back. They had seven different names for him from the neighbors and none of them heard or saw anything. I was looking around and opened the closet closest to the door and found Joel. He wouldn't talk to anyone – not even me."

"The dead man is named Keller," Martin told him. "He's with ATF."

"ATF?" Castle echoed. "As in _Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms_?"

"Right."

"What's ATF doing with your son?" Castle asked him. He hesitated, realizing that the question might not be one that Martin wanted to answer. "Unless that's a personal question, of course…"

Martin's expression looked slightly amused as he shook his head.

"Have you heard the name Giovanni Nemich?"

Castle nodded. Everyone knew who he was.

"He's a gun runner, right?"

"_Alleged_ gun-runner, Mr. Castle."

"Sorry."

Martin waved away the apology.

"Gino is going to trial next week for one of the biggest weapons charges case that ATF has ever brought into a courtroom."

"I heard about that."

"Yeah, well, what you probably _didn't_ hear is that I'm also under indictment for that same bust."

"No, I hadn't heard that," Castle admitted.

"Gino and I go way back. I know a lot about his operation and ATF would love to bring me in front of the judge and jury to testify against him." Martin smiled without humor. "The problem with that is that because I'm under suspicion, they can't subpoena me."

"Under the 5th amendment."

"Right. If they put me on a witness stand they'd be forcing me to testify and incriminate myself. Legally they can't do it."

"Makes sense."

"It's driving ATF – and a certain agent named Williams – crazy. Or maybe a better word is desperate. Williams actually came to my office and _asked_ me to testify – said she'd make me a deal to keep me out of prison."

"And you told her no."

Martin nodded.

"Gino's a friend of mine. I'd never send him up." He scowled and leaned forward. "Then I get a call – from an anonymous caller, using an untraceable phone line – who tells me that they have my son and if I don't testify they're going to make sure he's never seen again."

"Are you serious?"

Martin nodded.

"I can't believe it," Castle said, shaking his head. "Was it the ATF?"

"Who else would it be, Mr. Castle?" Martin asked him. "I know that none of my own enemies even _knew_ about Joel."

"What did you do?"

"I called his mother – to check on them. She doesn't even live in the city. She has a different last name – _Canton_, like Joel's – to keep them as far from connected to me as they can be."

"What did she say?"

He shook his head; his expression bleak enough that Castle knew the news would be bad.

"She didn't answer. I tried calling her several times, then I sent a couple of guys over to check on her." He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. "They found the place crawling with cops. One dead woman and a missing child…"

"Joel."

He nodded.

"I sent everyone out looking for him. We blanketed the city and I called in every favor I'm owed and every source I ever heard of. We finally got a name."

"Keller."

"Right."

"You killed him?" Castle asked, uncertainly.

Martin shook his head.

"We knew the name, but we didn't find him until after we had the news that he was dead and Joel was still gone. We knew he'd been with Keller, but we didn't know who had him. We went back to looking for him."

"And found him."

"Yes."

Castle looked toward the kitchen once more.

"What happens now?"

"I need to find out who killed Keller."

"The police are-"

"The police don't have as many connections as I do. The problem is keeping Joel safe while I look for the person who did it."

"What are you going to do?" Castle asked him curiously.

"That depends on you, actually."

"Me?"

Martin nodded, leaning back but watching Castle intently.

"Do you know what I saw when I walked in here for the first time, Mr. Castle?"

"What?"

"You. Standing between me and my son." Before Castle could say anything, Martin continued. "Of course, at the time you didn't know he was my son. Which means that what I saw was you standing between my son and a stranger with a gun who could have been hell bent on killing him."

"I was protecting Alexis, too," Castle reminded him.

"Yeah. You have a good instinct for protecting kids, apparently. I was wondering if you'd be willing to continue watching Joel for me until I figure out exactly what is going on and who killed Keller?"

Castle frowned.

"Are you sure you don't want to leave that up to the police? The detective I-"

"I won't get in their way," Martin interrupted. "But they have to follow certain rules that I don't. I can do more than they can. If you're worried about being in danger I can leave a couple of guys down on the street to keep an eye on the place…"

"I-"

The phone in his pocket suddenly rang, startling both of them. Looking at Martin, questioningly, Castle pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.

"Who is it?" Martin asked.

"The police."


	13. Chapter 13

"The police?" Martin didn't look too concerned. "Which ones?"

Castle shrugged.

"It's not a number in my caller ID."

"How do you know it's the _police_, then?"

"Because they called me from the same number this morning."

"You're sure it was the police? It could have been a trick…"

Castle shook his head.

"It was a detective I know well. It's _not_ his normal number, but it was him, I know."

"Unregistered phone?"

"No clue."

"Answer it."

_"Really?"_

Martin nodded.

"Before they think something is wrong and come storming over here."

Castle opened the phone.

"Hello?"

"Castle?"

It wasn't Esposito this time. It was Beckett. He looked over at Martin, wondering what the man wanted him to do.

"Yes?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes."

Beckett hesitated, uncertain. She was worried, but _he_ sounded _calm_. Maybe even too calm.

"Where are you?"

"At home."

"Is Joel with you?"

"Yeah. He's fine."

"You need to be careful, Castle," Beckett said. "We just found out that Joel's mother is dead and we're certain that people are looking for him."

Castle met Martin's gaze, but the man still didn't look nervous about him talking to the police.

"People like _Theo Martin_?" He asked.

The silence on the other side of the line was thunderous. It was almost thirty seconds before she spoke.

"How do you know about Theo Martin?"

"He's sitting in my living room."

"He's _there_?"

"Yes."

"I'll be right-"

"We're _fine_, Beckett," he assured her. "He's not-"

"Let me talk to him," Martin said, just as he heard Beckett say the exact same thing to him on the other end of the line.

Castle held the phone against his shirt for a second.

"It's a _her_," he told Martin. "Detective Kate Beckett."

Martin nodded and reached for the phone, but Castle didn't hand it over.

"She's one of the good ones," he told Martin. "And a very good friend of mine."

Martin scowled.

"I'm not going to hurt her."

"Promise?"

"Yeah." Now he looked a little annoyed. "Let me talk to her."

He handed the phone over, but went over and sat down beside him so he could hear both sides of the conversation.

"This is Theo Martin."

"What are you doing, Mr. Martin?" Beckett asked him, without introducing herself.

"Having a talk with Mr. Castle."

"I'll be right there."

"Is this phone traceable?"

"No."

"Then you can talk to me over the phone."

"Castle isn't-"

"Castle's _fine_. I'm not breaking the law, Detective, I'm just-"

"Technically, you're _breaking and entering_," Castle pointed out, automatically. "I mean, it's not like you _knocked_ or…" he trailed off when Martin scowled, and shrugged. "But I suppose I could let it slide…"

"Let me talk to Castle."

Martin handed the phone over to him.

"Yeah?"

"Are you guys really okay?" she asked.

"We're _fine_, really. He's been telling me about Joel's mother…"

"Let me have her back," Martin said, reaching for the phone again. "It's Martin."

"We found Marissa Canton dead," Beckett told him.

"I know."

Castle wondered if Beckett could hear the sadness in Martin's voice that he could see in the man's eyes.

"Did you do it?"

"No."

"Do you know who did?"

"No."

"Do you know an ATF agent named Williams?"

"Yes."

"And Keller?"

"No, but I know who he is."

"What's going on, Mr. Martin?" Castle heard Beckett ask. He could also hear the frustration in her voice. He knew it well since it was usually directed at him.

"I'll let Castle explain it to you, Detective," The mobster told her. "I'm going to be busy."

"Doing what?"

"I'll just plead the 5th on that, but I would ask that you don't bring a lot of people to Castle's. There's a good chance you're going to be followed and I don't want to risk their safety."

"Don't do anything stupid, Mr. Martin," Beckett told him. "Let us-"

"Someone killed someone I care deeply for, Detective. Now, it might have been Keller, or it might have been someone else. I'm going to find out who it was. You need to stay out of my way so you don't get run over."

He closed the phone before Beckett could say anything, and looked at Castle.

"I warned her…"

Castle shook his head.

"She's _not _going to stay out of the way."

"I'll do what I can to keep her safe."

"I appreciate that."

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett looked at the phone for a moment, and then looked at Esposito and Ryan.

"Martin's there?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah."

"Castle and the kids are okay?"

"They seem to be. We need to go check, though. And I was told Castle's going to fill us in on what the hell is going on…"

Both of them reached for their jackets, and handed Beckett hers.

"Let's go."

OOOOOOOOOO

"I'm going to leave a couple of men in the area. They'll get you out of here and take you somewhere safe if something happens."

"But the police-"

"Trust your detective, Mr. Castle, but whatever you do, _don't _trust ATF or anyone else you don't know."

"Okay."

"And take care of my son."

"I will."

The mobster went into the kitchen and a moment later Alexis came out, looking worried and relieved at the same time.

"Are you okay?"

He opened his arms and she hugged him.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. You?"

"Yes. Is he a mobster?"

Castle grinned, pushing her away so he could look at her to make sure she was really okay.

"I'm not sure. But we're going to keep an eye on Joel for him. Do you mind?"

She nodded.

"What about Beckett? Shouldn't you call her?"

"We just got off the phone with her. She'll probably be here pretty soon."

Before he could say anything else, the kitchen door opened and Martin came out with Joel in his arms. He was followed by the men he'd brought with him. All of them were far more relaxed now, and Martin handed Joel over to Castle without the boy making any fuss at the change of hands.

"You be good, now, hear?" Martin told his son.

"I will."

"Good." He kissed the boy's forehead once more and then smiled at Alexis. "Watch your dad for me."

She nodded, and Martin left without another word, taking all of his men with him. Castle looked at his daughter and then at the boy in his arms.

"So… what do you guys want to do?"

"Video games?" Alexis asked, looking at Joel questioningly. He nodded, with a shy smile, and she took him from her father. "We're going to go to my room and play."

He knew that she was doing that so Joel wouldn't be in the room when Beckett came, and he was once again amazed by how clever she was for her age.

"I'll be up in a little while."

The two headed up the stairs and Castle sighed, and sat down on the arm of the sofa once more, feeling tired and worried.

"What have I gotten myself into…?"


	14. Chapter 14

As much as she wanted to rush right over and find out what the hell was going on and how Castle had managed to get himself planted right in the middle of it, Beckett was smart enough to know that Theo Martin's concerns about leading someone to Castle were very well founded. Hadn't she been certain that she'd been followed all day? Before, though, it was amusing to her to allow it, and to drag whoever it had been all over the city on wild goose chases. Now, however, she needed to lose the tail and make sure it was safe.

"We'll take my car," she told the guys as they hit the street level. "Watch for anyone following."

They knew immediately what she meant, and Esposito got in the passenger side while Ryan got in the back on the driver's side. Both were very careful to look nonchalant as they looked around when getting their seatbelts on.

"I don't see anyone," Esposito said, looking for people who were out of place, or standing around when the rest of the pedestrians were hurrying along around them.

"Me, either," Ryan agreed.

Beckett pulled out into traffic, watching her rearview mirror and aware that the guys would be watchign as well.

"Got him," Ryan said as she turned the first corner. "Blue Ford, three cars back."

Beckett looked for the car and found it. A government issue Crown Victoria that turned the same corner she did and then went left when she did only a few blocks later. As she thought about it, she decided she'd probably seen the same car earlier that day when she was sure she'd been followed.

"Yeah, that's our guy."

"Looks like a cop," Esposito said, checking the car out as well. "Or a Fed."

"Probably a Fed," Ryan added. "How are we going to handle it?"

"Let's make sure he's our guy, first," Beckett said.

She drove for several blocks, heading the opposite direction from Castle's, turned right once and then took another left that put her on a residential street. The Ford was still there, several cars back, but definitely the same car.

"Call it in," she told Esposito.

"Right." He reached for the radio as Beckett continued driving, and advised the dispatcher that they had a suspicious vehicle with a driver acting erratic. Six minutes later, two patrol cruisers pulled up behind the car that was tailing them and pulled it over.

"Nice."

Esposito grinned as Beckett drove off, turning the corner just as the driver got out of the car, and the police officers that had pulled him over put their hands on their side arms to warn him not to do anything stupid.

"They'll hold him long enough for us to lose him, anyway," he said, looking in the passenger mirror - just in case there had been another tail partnering with the first one.

OOOOOOOO

Castle had expected Beckett – and half the police force – to come over right away. He was a little surprised when that didn't happen. Instead, he had a chance to make some coffee and check on Alexis and Joel to make sure they were doing okay. They were. The visit from his father, while very scary in many ways, had changed him considerably. All day he'd been loosening up with him and Alexis, but now he was even more cheerful, and talkative, yammering on and on to Alexis about the game they were playing and acting like a crazy rock and roll drummer, even though it was obvious he wasn't that great at the game. Since it was one of Alexis' favorites, he could tell she was having a good time, too, although she gave him a slightly worried look when he'd checked in on them. He'd merely winked at her to tell her everything was fine, and had shut the door and left them to their fun.

The knock on the door about an hour after Martin and his men had left startled him, and Castle hadn't even managed to get off the couch before it swung open. Beckett led Esposito and Ryan into the room, all of them looking around warily and clearly searching for signs of duress.

"You okay?" Beckett asked him, coming over to where he was standing.

"Yeah."

"What's going on, Castle?" Esposito asked. "Where is the kid?"

"Upstairs playing Rock Band with Alexis."

"Why isn't she in school?" Ryan asked.

"We're taking the day off."

"Where's Martin?" Beckett asked, going back to what was most important just then.

Castle shrugged.

"I don't know. He left right after you called."

"Didn't say where he's going?"

"No."

"What did he want?"

"Joel."

Beckett frowned.

"Because he saw Keller's murder? Or his mom's?"

"Because he's Theo Martin's son."

"Seriously?" Ryan asked. "I didn't see that coming."

Castle nodded.

"It's a good story."

"I'd like to hear the rest of it," Beckett told him.

"Yeah."

He led them into the kitchen so they could have coffee, and then they sat at the breakfast bar and he told them everything that Martin had told him. They listened without interrupting him, and then Beckett ran him through the story one more time, this time interrogating him and asking him questions to help him remember anything else that he might have left out the first time. Castle was a storyteller, though, and very good with details, she already knew. He hadn't left out much.

Then Beckett told Castle all that they'd learned while he'd been watching Joel, and it was his turn to listen intently.

"This Agent Williams _has_ to know what Keller did – _if_ he's the one that killed Marissa Canton – that is," he finally said. "He's too new for it to be something he'd have done on his own. Right?"

All three of the detectives nodded.

"So what if she sent him over there to _kidnap_ Joel and something went wrong – probably his mother caught him in the act or something like that – and he ended up accidentally killing her… He'd have been flustered and unsure of what to do, taken Joel home with him for lack of any other options, and then called Williams to let her know what happened."

"Yeah." That sounded feasible so far to Beckett. "Then what happened? She killed him to hide the fact that kidnapping Joel had been her idea?"

Esposito shook his head.

"I doubt it. She looked pretty upset that he was dead when she saw him on our board. I'd say someone else killed Keller."

"But who?"

Beckett looked at Castle.

"Martin didn't mention where he was going or any names of people he was going to talk to?"

"No. He just asked me to keep watching Joel – and said he'd leave a couple of guys down on the street in case something happened and we needed to move."

Esposito shook his head, ruefully.

"That's crazy. A couple of hit men guarding our witness?"

"_And _Alexis," Castle added. "I'm kind of glad they're there, really.

"Yeah, me too," Beckett admitted. "I want to have a talk with them before we go, though."

"Where are we going?" Castle asked.

She shook her head.

"You're staying here for now. We're going to go figure out who killed Keller."

"But-"

"We'll put a couple of our own guys on the building, too," she interrupted, standing up. "I'd like to know exactly what happens if something comes up and you need to evacuate. Besides, we have better places to hide Joel than the Mob does."

"Where are you going next?" Castle pressed, curiously.

"I'm going to go talk to Agent Williams. She has to be looking for Keller's murderer. I'd like to see what I can shake from her."


	15. Chapter 15

The men Martin left were as good as Beckett had ever seen. Good enough that she really wished they weren't criminals. They'd watched the detectives enter the building – and had to know who they were, or at least _what _they were – and when she caught the eye of one of them on the way out it was easy enough to gesture for him to come over to her.

He didn't even look nervous. Of course, he wasn't breaking the law just then, so he had no reason to. He simply strolled over as nonchalantly as if he were bumming a cigarette from her.

"You're Beckett?" he asked, proving that he'd been told who to expect.

She nodded.

"And you?"

"Sam."

"Where's Theo Martin?"

"Who?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, but she didn't press. She hadn't really expected him to tell her.

"Never mind. How long are you planning on being here?"

The man shrugged.

"Depends."

Beckett wasn't really surprised that he wasn't going to tell her anything he didn't have to. As it stood, he wasn't doing more than loitering, and even that he wasn't admitting to. She reached into her pocket and brought out one of her cards and handed it to him.

"Call me if anything happens."

He took it, glanced at the number and then handed it back to her.

"I will."

With that, he turned and headed back to the wall he'd been standing against when they'd arrived.

Esposito shook his head as they walked to her car.

"It's not natural," he grumbled, much to her amusement.

"Martin has more men than we do," she told him as they got into the car. "Castle's right about having them here. It's that many more guns protecting Alexis and Joel."

She called into Captain Montgomery and asked him to send out a couple of officers in plain-clothes to watch Castle's place as well – just in case.

"You really think we need all the protection?" Ryan asked. "We _could _just move them to a safe house."

Beckett nodded.

"I thought about that. The problem is that I don't trust ATF right now – Williams, anyway – and they know where all our safe houses are. Castle isn't exactly low-key, but he's not a cop _and _not in the system."

"Martin found him," Esposito pointed out.

"He doesn't have to follow the same rules we do," she reminded him. "ATF does."

Both guys looked doubtful, and she felt the same way they looked. After all, if Martin was telling the truth, then ATF wasn't following _any_ rules. And that kind of thing was far more dangerous than Theo Martin could ever be. You expected the bad guys to break the law, but a rogue with a badge was unpredictable.

OOOOOOOOOO

They had barely walked into the precinct when one of the uniformed officers came up to her, smiling.

"Hey, Beckett, guess who was tailing you?"

"ATF."

"Good guess, but wrong."

"Really?" She had figured it was one of Williams' agents tailing her.

"A guy named Edward Keller."

She frowned.

"Any relation to my DB?"

"Brother. _And _he was driving your DB's car. We brought him in on it, since it's an official car. He wants to talk to you."

"He's here?"

"In holding."

"Put him in room one, will you?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"Why would Keller's brother be following you?" Ryan asked.

"One way to find out."

OOOOOOOOO

"Any luck?"

"You ever hear of _Richard Castle_?"

"No. Who is he?"

"He's a writer. A famous one."

"So?"

"I think _he's_ the one they put the boy with."

"A _writer_?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you think that?"

"I followed Beckett and others to his place. A couple of Martin's men were watching the place, too. Beckett even spoke to one of them."

"It might be one of _Martin's _places. Maybe she was just there asking questions."

"What are the odds of Castle living in the same building as Martin?"

"Who cares about this Castle guy?"

"He writes Nikki Heat," came the reply.

"So?"

"Nikki Heat is _Beckett_."

"Really?"

"I double checked. It's not a secret. She's the inspiration for Nikki Heat."

"I'll be damned. So Beckett figures no one will suspect if she puts the boy someplace like that…?"

"It's smart as hell, really."

"Not as much as you think. We found him."

"So did Martin. What are you going to do about that?"

"How many men are watching the place?"

"I don't know. A couple."

"I want that boy. If you have to, take care of Castle to get him."

There was a hesitation on the other end of the line.

"I'm not _Keller_, Rebecca."

"No. You're a lot smarter than he was. We need to take care of this problem. Do I have to remind you that you're going to go down if that kid talks?"

"No."

"Then get it done."

The line went dead, but she was pretty sure she'd made her point.

OOOOOOOOOO

Edward Keller was a slight man with dirty blonde hair that was just a little longer than a crew cut and gray eyes. According to the file she'd browsed while waiting for him to be moved out of holding and into the interrogation room he was thirty-five and had no record of arrests. The file stated his occupation as a psychologist, but also told her that he'd gone through the academy to become a police officer and had for some undisclosed reason had decided not to accept the position when it was offered.

He looked up when she walked into the room, and she added intelligent to the things she already knew about him. His eyes were intent without being creepy as he watched her sit down.

"Edward Keller?"

He nodded.

"Yes."

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett. I understand you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes."

"About your brother?"

He nodded again.

"Have you figured out who did it, yet?"

She shook her head.

"Not yet, I'm afraid."

"Did you talk to Agent Williams?"

"Do you think she knows more than she would tell me?"

"She had Brandon working on something secret. Something that had him scared he'd lose his job if anyone found out."

"Do you know what?"

"No, but it was freaking him out. That woman's crazy," Keller told her, leaning forward. "She had Brandon wrapped around her little finger. There wasn't anything he wouldn't have done for her."

"Why is that?"

"He was sleeping with her."

Beckett frowned.

"Are you sure?"

"Brandon told me."

"With all due respect, Mr. Keller, guys tend to exaggerate when they-"

"He was sleeping with her, Detective Beckett," Keller interrupted. "He didn't have any reason to lie, and there was no one to impress by exaggerating. I don't think she loved him, but I know he loved her. My guess would be that she seduced him to get him to do whatever it is she was making him do – either by sleeping with him, or by blackmailing him if that didn't work. He was new to the agency and afraid that if anyone caught them he'd get fired, so the threat would have worked on him."

"Did he say anything about what she was making him do?" Beckett asked. "Even hinting or hypothetical situations that he might have discussed with you?"

"Not really. He was usually pretty close-mouthed about work. You should talk to Williams, though. She had something to do with his death – I know she did."

"Why were you following me?"

He shrugged.

"I wanted to talk to you…"

"So you followed me around all day waiting until I noticed and had someone pull you over?"

"No. I followed you since I left my office at lunchtime to see where you went to try and approach you somewhere that Williams wouldn't find out."

Beckett frowned.

"You weren't following me this morning?"

"No."

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Keller." She handed him her card. "If you think of anything else that might help, please call me."

He pocketed the card and she stood up and left the room.


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's note: Wow, I loved monday's episode! I haven't had a chance to watch it because I've been so busy, but I did last night and it was great._

OOOOOOOO

Beckett joined Esposito and Ryan at the white board where they had been adding in the things they'd heard from Castle and now Keller's brother. She sighed as she sat down on her desk, looking up at the picture of Keller, which had been joined by a picture of Williams now, and also Theo Martin's name – although they hadn't dug up a picture of him yet.

"We're missing something. _Someone_."

Esposito nodded, looking up at the board as well.

"If Martin's telling the truth and Keller killed Joel's mom and then kidnapped him, who killed _Keller_? Not Martin, obviously."

"And not Williams," Ryan added.

"Which leaves who?" Beckett asked. "One of Williams' people?"

"Why would they do that? He's already low man on the totem pole, so there's no advancement opportunity."

Beckett had to agree with that.

"We still have a wildcard out there."

"The guy who was tailing you this morning?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe. I really thought it was Williams trying to find out where we stashed Joel… or one of her people at least."

Ryan sat down beside her.

"We can go ask her."

"_I'm_ going to go ask her," Beckett said. "I want you guys to figure out who was following me. And have someone double-check with Keller's mom to make sure he really has a brother."

Esposito nodded.

OOOOOOOOOO

The ATF field office that Williams worked out of was quartered in Brooklyn. Being a detective, Beckett already knew that. With a badge in hand, she also had no trouble getting into the place. She asked for Agent Williams and was politely directed to a waiting area that was reserved for law enforcement officers.

She sat on a leather sofa for about twenty minutes before someone came to fetch her. A young man who looked young enough to be in high school still, but with a ready smile and a lot of manners that made her a little less annoyed at the long wait.

He led her to a small office, knocked twice on the closed door and opened it without waiting for a response. Williams was sitting behind the desk facing the door so Beckett was able to see her expression as soon as the door opened. She was keeping her emotions well hidden, so the detective couldn't tell if she was annoyed that she was there or not. Her escort gestured for her to go on in and then closed the door behind her.

"Detective Beckett," Williams greeted her with a nod. "Tell me you're here to share your information with me…"

Beckett sat down in the chair across from the desk without an invitation.

"Our ME is done with her report, so she'll released Keller's body to his family tomorrow, I'm told. Have you had any luck finding out what he was working on?"

She nodded.

"I have, but you'll forgive me if I am reluctant to share my findings. It turns out he was… operating outside of my directives."

"Doing what?" Beckett asked, bluntly. "The only way I'm going to be able to figure out who killed Keller is to find out what he was working on so I have my full range of suspects."

Williams hesitated only for a moment but then shook her head.

"Why don't you tell me what you've found out so far, Detective? Then I'll fill in whatever holes I can."

Beckett hid her annoyance with practiced ease. She honestly hadn't expected Williams to be too forthcoming. In fact, Beckett was surprised she'd agreed to see her at all. She could have claimed to be busy, after all.

"The little boy is named Joel Canton. We cross-referenced the name and came up with the name of a murdered woman in Sea Cliff. Marissa Canton. Do you know who she is?"

Williams shook her head.

"Who is she?"

"I'm still looking into that. But we do know she's Joel's mother."

"Then the boy could be in danger, Detective. You should bring him here. _We _can protect him."

She shook her head.

"He's fine where he is. If he _is _in danger I don't want to risk him by moving him around too much."

"But-"

"What was Keller doing with the boy?"

"I don't know."

"I _think _you do."

The two women looked at each other over the desk, both unyielding, both used to getting answers when they asked questions.

"When you're ready to realize that you can't protect the boy, feel free to bring him to me," Williams told her. "Other than that, I'd say we're done here."

Beckett stood up.

"We're nowhere near done, Agent Williams."

Without another word she turned and left.

OOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the day was a fairly relaxed one at the Castle residence. After they tired of video games – which took a lot longer than one might think – Castle made dinner for the three of them and then helped Joel take a bath while Alexis did homework that she was supposed to have had done the day before but hadn't even looked at. She wasn't worried, really. She was a good student and wouldn't fall behind so easily.

A while later, with Joel still slightly damp from his bath and Castle tired from a long day after an even longer night, the three of them lounged in the living room on the sofa. Alexis was reading a book, Joel was watching TV with his head cradled on the edge of the arm of the sofa, and Castle was between the two, his laptop on his lap and was once more perusing the fan fiction sites that he'd grown so fond of.

The quiet knock on the door startled all three of them, and Alexis set her book down to get up and answer it.

"I'll get it, sweetheart," Castle told her, setting his laptop aside and standing up.

He went to the door and looked out the peephole, and relaxed immediately when he saw who was there. He was smiling when he opened the door.

"Detective Beckett, good evening."

Annoyed as she still was at the lack of cooperation from Williams, Beckett had to smile when she saw Castle. Not only because the guy was almost always relaxed in a way that she never seemed to be able to be, but because she had to admit (way, way, way down deep) that she'd missed having him following her around all day. Not to mention, he was really good at adding to her own observations with his own – and she missed that insight as well.

Which was one of the reasons she'd decided to go visit him. She'd checked in with Esposito and Ryan to find out what they had learned, found out that Keller's mother had confirmed she had a son named Edward and had also added that her son had been telling her that he was in love, but hadn't been willing to give his mother the name of the woman. That made Edward Keller a somewhat more reliable informer than he was before. With that information under her belt, so to speak, she figured she better check in with Castle and make sure he wasn't going stir crazy stuck inside with babysitting duties.

Besides, she wanted to make sure the people guarding the place were still there.

She'd seen a couple of men that were probably Martin's, and recognized one of the three police officers that were in the area watching the place, too. No one gestured for her to come over and talk, so she assumed that things had been fairly quiet – and would confirm it with Castle when she saw him.

"Hi. Can I come in?"

"Of course."

He gestured for her to come in and closed the door behind her. She looked around and saw Alexis and Joel on the sofa, looking at her.

Castle put his arm casually on her lower back. She frowned and looked over at him, wondering at the familiarity of the touch.

The writer grinned at the look.

"I thought I'd officially introduce you to Joel," he explained. "He's easier to talk to if he knows you're a friend…"

Which made sense, she had to admit, and she definitely did want to get Joel relaxed around her enough so that he'd be willing to talk to her when the time came that they needed to ask him some very tough questions.

"Just make sure it doesn't go any lower," she told him, pointedly.

He gave her an innocent look.

"You don't think I'd use this kind of situation to further my own nefarious objectives, do you?"

She just rolled her eyes, and he chuckled and led her into the living room, his hand still on her back. Joel wasn't terrified, now, and the change was good to see. She gave him a reassuring smile as they walked over and Castle winked at Alexis before turning his attention to Joel.

"You remember my very good friend Kate?"

The little boy nodded, and she walked over and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Hello, Joel."

"Hi."

"Did you guys have a good day today?" she asked, both him and Alexis.

"We went to IHOP," Alexis told her, catching on to what she was doing and helping her get Joel to open up by being open first so he'd know _she _liked Beckett, too. "And had pancakes. Didn't we Joel?"

The boy nodded with a smile.

"And hot chocolate."

Beckett smiled at the agreement, and she threw Alexis a grateful look for the help.

"What else did you do?"

"Played video games."

"Rock Band?"

Joel nodded.

Before she could make him worried about being the center of a bunch of questions, Beckett stopped while she was ahead. She looked over at Castle.

"Did you guys have dinner yet?"

"Left overs are in the fridge. Want me to heat some up for you?"

She shook her head.

"That's all right, I'll grab something on the way home."

He waved that suggestion away, and headed for the kitchen, gesturing for her to follow him. When she joined him, he leaned on the breakfast bar and she knew the look he gave her well enough to know that he was going to say something that was going to make her want to stay.

"Come on, Beckett. It won't take long and you can hang out with us for a while. It'll give you and Joel a chance to get to know each other a little better…"

Yup. There it was. Beckett shrugged, and then finally nodded.

"Okay."


	17. Chapter 17

"_You _made this?"

Castle gave Beckett a slightly defensive look.

"It's better when it's not reheated. I-"

"It's good," she interrupted. "I just didn't know you could cook."

He smiled.

"I have a lot of talents you don't know about."

They were in the kitchen, and she was sitting at the breakfast bar, a plate of pasta and sauce, salad, rolls and a beer in front of her. _He_ was on the other side of the bar, a beer of his own as he watched her eat dinner. Joel had readily gone back to the cartoon he'd been watching and Alexis decided to go upstairs now that her dad didn't need her help with babysitting. TV was too distracting for her when she was trying to read.

Beckett shook her head, unwilling to let her dinner get cold. She'd been planning on a slice of pizza or something. This was much better. Even if it did stoke Castle's ego. As she ate, he leaned against the bar, able to watch Joel while at the same time able to talk to her.

"What did you find out from ATF?"

She scowled.

"The woman is impossible. She actually sat right there in her office and _lied _outright to me about…" she looked over at the boy and decided not to finish the sentence. Little kids had big ears, she'd heard, and she didn't know exactly how much he'd be able to hear. The last thing she wanted to do was upset him by mentioning anything about his mother. "I'll tell you later."

He'd followed her gaze and looked back at her curiously, wondering what she'd learned. He could tell by her expression, however, that she wasn't going to tell him just then. Instead she dug into her meal with an enthusiasm that gratified him, and he allowed her to change the subject to what he and the kids had done that day instead. He knew she'd tell him what he wanted to know eventually.

When she finished eating, he waved away her offer to clean up what little mess there was and told her to go ahead and head into the living room. Carrying her beer, she did just that, walking over to the couch and carefully watching Joel for any sign that he was going to get difficult with having her there without Castle. Instead, the boy simply looked up for a moment, returned the shy smile she'd given him, and turned his attention back to the show he was watching.

She sat down at the other end of the sofa and set the beer down on the coffee table and looked at the screen of Castle's laptop, curious what he was writing. She frowned, and picked it up, setting it on her lap and settling back against the cushion behind her.

"What in the world…"

By the time Castle finished cleaning up, Beckett had ensconced herself firmly on the couch, her brow furrowed as she skimmed the story that he'd been reading. It wasn't his writing, she knew his style well enough to recognize that immediately, and it wasn't really all _that_ well written, but the subject matter had her attention. She looked up as he walked in, and he hesitated when he saw what she was looking at.

"I didn't write it," he told her quickly.

She smiled.

"I know. What is it?"

He walked over and sat down between her and Joel.

"It's fan fiction. Fans write their own stories using established characters."

She frowned.

"I'm an established character?"

"Nikki Heat is. And she is _you_. So you are an established character."

He reached over and ruffled Joel's hair, and the boy turned over and put his head on Castle's thigh, but continued watching the cartoon, not paying any attention to what the grown ups were discussing.

"This is… um… interesting…"

He grinned.

"There are a lot of different kinds of stories, believe me. Some are way better than others, and some are more detailed."

"Yeah?"

He nodded.

"Some are definitely _not_ to be read aloud with young people in the room."

"Oh?"

"But some are yummy."

She turned her attention back to the laptop and Castle frowned, debating whether or not to ask for it back so he could finish the story he'd been reading. She reached for her beer without taking her attention from the story she had started from the beginning, and took a drink before settling in once more, clearly not planning on going anywhere any time soon.

Castle stifled a sigh, took a drink of his own beer and then turned to the TV. Sponge Bob wasn't his favorite, but he'd seen worse. He rested his hand lightly on Joel's back and leaned back. It _could_ be worse. She could have found the stories that he'd _book marked_.

OOOOOOOOO

"Did you find the boy?"

"Martin has him."

"Where?"

"Some apartment building. We got a guy watching the place now. We're not the only ones, though."

"ATF?"

"I think so. The look more like local guys, though. They might be working together."

"I want that boy."

"I know. I'll take care of it."

"Good."

OOOOOOOOOOO

By the time Beckett finished the first story, Joel was asleep. By the time she finished the third one, Castle was asleep as well, his head lolled back against the cushions behind them in a position that she knew was going to make him sorry in the morning. She smiled, and put the laptop back on the coffee table and stood up. The motion woke Castle and he opened his eyes, wincing as he looked over at her.

"H-"

"Shh." She gestured to the sleeping boy and put her finger on her lips to keep him from waking him.

Castle nodded, scooping Joel gently up into his arms and then standing up. He looked over at her.

"I better put him to bed."

"Yeah."

"Unless you have other ideas…?"

She rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams, Castle."

He winked, and looked down at the boy in his arms.

"On the plus side, he knows you now, and he'll be more willing to talk to you."

"We'll try to get him to tell us what happened tomorrow."

"Want me to bring him in?"

She smiled.

"I'll come here, where he's comfortable."

He nodded again.

"Over breakfast?"

"Sounds good."

"I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah. Thanks for dinner, Castle."

"You're welcome."

She turned to leave, and Castle watched her go, hearing the lock click in place when she shut the door behind her. He grinned and with Joel still in his arms he turned and headed for the bedroom.


	18. Chapter 18

When Beckett returned home she was in a pretty good mood, all annoyance at Agent Williams of the ATF forgotten in the fairly relaxing time she'd spent at Castle's place. A good dinner always makes a person less annoyed, she knew. She noticed the message light blinking on her phone and frowned, pulling out her cell phone to see if she'd missed any messages. Everyone she knew tried her _cell _before they'd try calling her at home. The battery on her cell had died without her even realizing it, and she muttered a curse, wondering how many calls she might have missed without knowing it. She put the cell on its charger and crossed the room to the phone, clicking the button on the digital answering machine.

It promptly told her she had one message waiting for her and she pressed the button again. The voice was Ryan's and he sounded a little excited.

"Beckett. It's Ryan. When you get in give me a call – no matter what time it is. I got something you might find interesting. And check the battery on your cell phone."

She rolled her eyes and picked up the phone, looking over at the clock. She'd taken her own sweet time going home, just checking for that tail out of habit. No one had followed her, and it was already just after two in the morning. Pretty late to be calling anyone – except if that someone had told you specifically to call them no matter what time it was. She dialed Ryan's number and was surprised when he picked up after only a couple of rings.

"Ryan."

His voice sounded sleepy, but not completely disorientated like he'd just been woken up.

"It's Beckett."

"Hey. You get my message?"

She smiled. Maybe he _was_ a little disorientated.

"No, I just got lonely and decided to call you at 2 in the morning. What did you find out?"

"Hold on." She could hear some papers rustling in the background and then he came back. "We got the phone records back from Keller's place. You were right about him making a rookie mistake, but you'll _never _guess who he called the night he died."

"Theo Martin?"

"Nope."

"Williams?"

"Nope."

She scowled.

"If I'm not going to guess then you need to tell me."

"Guy's name is Sergio Lemoz."

"Never heard of him."

"Neither had I. So I ran his name. Sergio Lemoz works for none other than Giovanni Nemich."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure?"

"Double checked with some street sources while I was waiting for you to call me back. He works for Nemich."

"So Keller kidnaps the boy for ATF and then calls and lets _Nemich _know? Why would he do that?"

"Who knows? But if Lemoz killed Keller, you can bet that Nemich knows he did it – and probably told him to. Maybe they were trying to get the boy back for Martin."

Beckett's eyes narrowed as her mind considered all the different possibilities in that scenario.

"Or maybe they were looking for Joel to use him to make sure Martin didn't testify…"

"Castle said Martin told him they were friends."

"Maybe Nemich wasn't so sure of Martin's loyalty. Especially when Joel was considered."

"So Lemoz kills Keller and then didn't take Joel?"

"He probably figured Keller had him stashed somewhere else. Who would be dumb enough to bring the kid back to his own place? He must have gone there to get Keller to tell him where he was, they struggled and Keller got shot somehow… Lemoz takes off, and Joel is hiding in the closet the entire time."

"That means Nemich is probably still looking for Joel."

"Right."

She felt a surge of anxiety go through her, and she grabbed her cell phone and car charger that went with it.

"We need to warn Castle."

"I'll call Esposito and meet you there."

"Right."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The middle of the night is a good time to ambush people. It's dark, most people are tired and using coffee to keep themselves awake, and it's impossible to look every direction. The man easily slipped behind the two police officers, using an asp baton he knocked both of them out as they stood there talking about a game they'd seen the day before. He would have used something more lethal, but a knife wouldn't have made it though the vests they were wearing quickly enough to make it possible to take down both men and a gun was too noisy – even with a silencer. Martin's guys weren't that far away and they would have known what the noise was.

It had been even easier with Martin's guys. He knew all of them by sight at least, and most of them knew him – and who he worked for. There were only two of them watching the apartment – although who knew how many were actually inside – and so he simply walked up to them, making sure that they could see him. He'd struck up a conversation with them, offered them both a smoke and had asked them what they were stuck outside in the dark for. Luckily for him one was a gossip. While they didn't say what they were guarding – they were way too good for that, even with a person they considered to be a friend – one did let it slip that they were watching the penthouse.

With that knowledge under his belt, he clubbed them both before they'd even had a chance to draw a weapon and had dragged the unconscious men into the alley where they'd be unnoticed until he was long gone.

Only then did he head inside, still not pulling a gun in case he ran into more of Martin's men.

He was surprised that he didn't see anyone else about. The elevator took him right up to the top floor and he still didn't see anyone. Martin was obviously trying to keep his guys low key, but it had been foolish of him to think that only two guys were going to be enough. He hadn't believed Theo Martin could make such a mistake. Maybe the guy really was slipping.

The door was locked, but he picked it easily, being as quiet as he could, since if there was anyone guarding the boy he didn't want to let them know he was there until he was ready to make his move. The door opened on quiet hinges and he let himself in, pulling his gun and looking around carefully as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

A quick look in the main floor told him that the place was tastefully decorated and not a normal hideout joint. It also told him that the boy wasn't on that level. He saw stairs heading up and started up them, looking around carefully. He got lucky with the first door he opened, and he was surprised to see a guy in sweats and a t-shirt soundly sleeping in a huge bed with Martin's kid cuddled against him, snoring softly.

The intruder walked over to the bed and cocked his gun. Then he put his free hand over the man's mouth, waking him up instantly. He showed him the gun and gave the guy his killer look.

"Don't say a word, or I'll kill you right here," he whispered, harshly. "Understand?"


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's note: Tried to get this up yesterday but the site wasn't cooperating_

OOOOOOOOO

Castle's place was fairly close to the same distance from Beckett's that it was from Ryan's. Esposito lived even closer and pulled up right before the others. He was the one that found the downed police officers, and was already on the radio calling in backup and ambulances when Beckett ran by the alley on her way to the site and noticed the other two bodies sprawled on ground.

"I got Martin's men over here," she yelled.

Ryan ran over to join her, dropping down beside her as she checked vital signs on the closest.

"He's alive."

"This one, too," Ryan told her. "Nasty head wound, though."

She looked up at the building she'd left only hours before.

"Castle…"

Beckett headed for the door, followed closely by Ryan and Esposito. Sirens were already sounding in the background as they entered the building and made a beeline for the elevator, watching every corner for anyone that might be hiding.

"Those guys probably weren't out long," Esposito said. "Whoever did it might still be here."

"Let's hope so," Beckett said as she hit the button for Castle's floor.

OOOOOOOOOOO

They pounded on the door, but didn't wait for an answer. Esposito crashed through it just as a terrified Alexis came rushing down the stairs, pale and frightened until she saw who it was.

"Detective Beckett!"

Beckett breathed a sigh of relief and holstered her gun.

"Alexis. Sorry. Where's your dad?"

"In his room," she said, gesturing back toward the stairs. "What's going on-"

"Check the place," Beckett told the other two. "Show me," she ordered Alexis, worrying again since she was certain that what would have woken Alexis certainly should have woken her father.

Alexis turned and went up the stairs, followed by Beckett, who had pulled her gun once more.

"It's this room," she said pointing, and looking afraid once more. "Why hasn't he-"

"Shhh." Beckett gestured for the girl to move to the side and tried the door. It was unlocked. Ryan appeared at her shoulder and nodded to let her know he could back her up, and Beckett opened the door and slipped into the room.

The bed was rumpled but empty. Ryan walked in the room and immediately headed for the bathroom.

"It's clear."

"Where are they?" Alexis asked, peeking her head into the room, and looking around. "They were here when I went to bed…"

Beckett shook her head.

"I don't know. Where's your grandmother?"

"In D.C."

There was no way they'd be leaving her here alone. Whoever had grabbed Castle and Joel must have been in such a hurry they hadn't even checked the other rooms, but they weren't going to push their luck.

"Okay, go get dressed, all right? We're going to take you with us."

"But what about my dad?"

"We'll find him," she assured her as soothingly as she could. "Hurry up and get dressed, okay?"

Alexis nodded and left, and Beckett turned to Ryan, who looked as concerned as she felt.

"We need to call Martin."

"Yeah."

OOOOOOOOO

"Someone just made a big mistake."

"Who?"

"It was Lemoz who knocked out our guys."

"You're sure?"

"Manny called me from the ambulance."

"What do you want me to do, Theo?"

"I want you to get everyone – and I mean _everyone_ – and grab all Nemich's people. I don't care how you get them to talk, but I want to know where my son and Castle are. The first one that talks lives."

"And the others?"

"Make a lesson out of them."

"Nemich won't like that."

"He crossed a line that he should never have been near. Let me know the minute you find out anything."

"You got it, Theo."

OOOOOOOOO

The precinct was quieter at night than it was in the daylight hours, but it was never completely empty. The city never slept, after all, and neither did all the crooks and cops. Captain Montgomery had been notified of what was happening and was in his office by the time Beckett and the others returned from Castle's place with Alexis. He promptly put Alexis in his office, and told her to let them know if she needed anything. Then he went over to Beckett's desk, where she was gathered with Esposito and Ryan, putting new information on their board.

"What do you have?" he asked, looking up at the board.

"We know Keller called one of Giovanni Nemich's men the night he was killed. We suspect it was Nemich that killed Keller – or had him killed – since no one else makes as much sense."

"Why not Martin?"

"Joel wouldn't have hid from Martin," Esposito pointed out.

"He was in the closet."

"He was in the closet when we _found_ him," Beckett corrected. "We don't know where he was when Keller was killed."

It would have been one of the first questions that she had asked him.

"Did you manage to get hold of Martin?"

It wasn't their usual policy to inform the _mob_ when something happened on one of their cases, but this was a special case.

Ryan nodded.

"On our way back here. He's supposed to be meeting us here."

"_Here_?"

Beckett shrugged.

"He's not breaking the law, sir."

"Not right _now_…"

She gave him a tight smile.

"He has more people than we do. And plenty of reason to help us find Castle, since the same person that has Castle will have Joel."

"Alexis didn't hear anything?"

"No. She didn't know anything was wrong until we got there and woke her up."

Montgomery started to say something but a commotion at the entrance to the precinct drew his attention and he saw Theo Martin walking toward them, followed by a small group of his men – who were in turn being followed by a couple of detectives who were just a little nervous having someone like him walking around the precinct without handcuffs on. The mobster glanced into Montgomery's office and hesitated when he saw Alexis sitting there, looking out a window and oblivious to anything but her own inner turmoil. He turned and walked over to Beckett's desk, his men staying back a little but well within earshot if they were needed.

"Detective."

"Mr. Martin."

"Is she okay?"

Beckett knew he was asking about Alexis, and knew it was a sincere question. So she answered it truthfully instead of brushing it aside.

"She's scared."

"What do you know?"

Beckett shrugged.

"Your guys are going to be fine – one has a nasty concussion. Our guys haven't woken up yet so we don't know what our suspect looks like."

He looked up at their murder board, which now had the name Giovanni Nemich on it.

"You have a suspect, though."

Beckett nodded.

"He's _just_ a suspect, though."

"Do you know where we might find Mr. Nemich?" Montgomery asked.

"Not yet. But I will."

"If you find him, call me," Beckett requested.

Martin shrugged.

"Sure."

"We need him alive, Mr. Martin…"

"I know _you _do."

The obvious omission there was that _Martin _didn't. No one mentioned that, though. He looked up at the board again, his eyes narrowing when he saw the picture of Joel in Castle's arms.

"I'll keep in touch," he promised.

"Thank you."

He turned to go, but once more stopped at Montgomery's office. This time, he opened the door.

The Captain started forward, concerned, but Beckett held up her hand to stop him.

"She's fine, sir. He won't do anything."

He frowned, but accepted Beckett's judgment. It didn't stop them all from watching from a distance though. Just to keep an eye on things.

OOOOOOOO

Alexis looked up, startled, when she heard the door shut. She hadn't even heard it open. She was equally startled, and just a little scared, when she saw who it was. She stood up, but Theo Martin didn't approach her, noticing immediately that she looked scared.

"I just wanted you to know I'm going to find your dad."

Her expression turned slightly hopeful, but that only made her look more vulnerable as far as the mobster was concerned.

"Is there anything I can get you?" he asked her. "_Anything_."

"My dad."

He nodded.

"I promise."

It wasn't every day a mob guy spoke to her. Alexis knew it was even rarer that they hang out at a police station. She tried to swallow her fear, because she knew that he was only there at the precinct because Joel was missing too.

"I hope Joel's okay."

Now Martin's expression darkened, and she could see a hint of the dangerous man that he truly was – even though he'd been nothing but courteous to her.

"He'd better be, Alexis. Him and your dad both."

She didn't know what to say, but he didn't seem to expect a reply. Instead, he nodded his head goodbye and left without another word.

Alexis sat back down, and was immediately joined by Beckett.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"What did Martin say to you?"

"He said he was going to find my dad for me."

Beckett heard the catch in her voice when she spoke, and hugged the girl close, giving her the comfort her father wasn't there to give just then. Alexis crumbled in her arms, all pretext at being brave wiped away.

"Don't worry, Alexis," Beckett told her. "We'll find him."


	20. Chapter 20

_Author's Note: Parts of this chapter might be graphically violent. Just a warning so you can read it before you allow your children to if they're sensitive to that kind of thing._

OOOOOOOOO

Castle didn't recognize the man who had snatched him and Joel so effortlessly out of his place, but he did know that the guy was serious about what he was doing. Once he'd made sure Castle was awake enough to follow orders, and wasn't going to do anything stupid, he had given Joel an injection. Castle had started to protest and the gun in the intruder's hand was pointed at him immediately.

"It's not going to kill him so shut up."

Since that had been exactly what he'd been worried about, Castle had quieted right away, worried about Alexis and wondering if this person was alone or if someone was terrorizing his daughter even then. The stranger gestured with the gun.

"Pick him up."

He'd picked Joel up and with the gun jabbed painfully into his side, he'd been ushered silently out into the hallway and down the stairs. Castle breathed a silent sigh of relief when he didn't see anyone else – and didn't see Alexis – and prayed that she'd stay in her room until they were gone. He could handle anything as long as he knew she was okay.

"We're going to be real quiet," the man told him in a harsh whisper when they were out the door and heading for the elevator. Castle had kicked the door shut behind him and had been relieved to hear the lock click behind them. Not that the guy hadn't already picked it once, most likely, but it would take time that he might not be willing to try again – gaining Alexis another measure of safety. "And no one will start bleeding."

Castle nodded, wondering how he'd managed to get by Beckett's police as well as Martin's people, but didn't ask. He shifted Joel a little, and had been directed out of the back of the building and into a dark sedan. Only when Joel was put into the backseat did the man finally tie Castle's hands together, and put him in the back as well.

"Who are you?" Castle finally dared ask as they were driving away from the building. "Why are you doing this?"

"Shut up."

They'd driven in silence through the city, to a neighborhood Castle didn't know, and ended up in a building that looked like it was on the verge of being condemned. This time the gunman carried Joel – with far less care than Castle had used – and they'd been locked in a room with only an unmade bed for furniture.

Castle tried to free himself from the ropes that were digging into his wrists, but the guy obviously knew what he was doing, because the ropes only tightened as he tried to loosen them, until he finally had to stop because they were making him bleed. He checked Joel to make sure the boy was okay, but he seemed fine. He was breathing easily and didn't seem to be in any distress. Unlike Castle, who was racking his brain trying to come up with a plan to get them out of there. With no windows, no phone and no way out that he could see, he was forced to wait. Something he wasn't really all that good at. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and watched the door, wondering if Alexis was awake and how mad Beckett would be at him for getting himself into this situation.

OOOOOOOOO

"I got him."

"I heard."

"What? How?"

"You didn't kill Martin's men. What were you _thinking_? They know it was you that took the kid."

"Who knows?"

"Everyone."

"_Martin_?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"At the Elm."

"Stay out of sight."

"You coming?"

"Yeah. I'll let the boss know where you are and then come and get you. Stay put."

"Okay."

OOOOOOOOOO

Nemich had a wide area of operations, and much of it was related to guns and drugs. He didn't allow his own people to use drugs, firmly keeping them clean in order to keep them from being stupid and making mistakes that might cost him millions, but he definitely kept them well armed – and they all knew how to shoot.

Theo Martin had an even wider area of operations, but his own interests weren't close enough to Nemich's to ever have caused them much strife. One reason for that was because they were friends and he didn't want to compete with his friend. Another reason was because he knew there were many other ways to make money. Extortion, blackmail, gambling rings, prostitution, and a number of very profitable clubs kept his men busy. All of them were clean as well – for the same reason Nemich kept his guys off the drugs – and all of his men were equally well armed. Thanks in part to his friendship with Nemich. They were also very good shots.

And Martin had a _lot _more men than Nemich.

OOOOOOOOOO

The Warehouse was a large, empty space that was situated in the middle of a port district that was almost always deserted at night. Far from any residential neighborhoods, it was a favored place for illegal gatherings that needed more privacy than a simple alley might allow, and a place where loud noises wouldn't draw attention.

At the moment, it wasn't deserted. Inside the Warehouse were twenty-two of Nemich's men, all unarmed and in various degrees of discomfort. Some had been caught completely unaware by Martin's men, taken while they were sleeping, or in bed with someone else and unarmed, while others had been working (which meant armed and wary) and these men had taken a little more force to bring down. Many were bleeding, several had broken bones and a couple were almost completely senseless at the moment to judge by the glazed over expressions and the blood running freely from head wounds obtained by one of Martin's more overzealous men.

"You can't do this," one of the men said, furiously. "Are you trying to start a war?"

They all knew the man who stood in front of them. They knew who he worked for and were baffled – for the most part – why someone who was considered an ally would suddenly turn on them.

"The war is already started," Martin's Lieutenant told them. "One of you knows where the kid is. My boss wants him back."

"What kid?"

The men standing behind Martin's Lieutenant were watching the group in front of them. A couple of them were very good at reading expressions and had been told to watch for a particular reaction when that statement had been given. Three of the men in the group had not shown enough surprise, which meant they at least knew something about what was going on.

Immediately these three men were singled out by those told to watch, and they were dragged away from the rest, struggling the entire time and shouting curses. The rest of Nemich's men protested the treatment, but before they even realized what was happening, they were gunned down where they were standing.

One of the three fainted. The other two watched with expressions ranging from horrified to terrified as Martin's men went through the downed group and made sure each of them were dead, putting another round through their heads for good measure.

"Nemich's going to kill you for this!" one of them sputtered.

There was no reply. One of Martin's men slapped the man who'd fainted and brought him around, and then still in full view of the dead men they sat them in three simple wooden backed chairs, and tied each man to the one they were sitting in.

"This is how it's going to work," Martin's Lieutenant told them as one of his guys brought in a small red container that reeked of gasoline. The gas was poured in the laps of the three who were tied to the chairs and they were all looking terrified now. "One of you will live. The other two will die. The first one who tells me where the kid is lives."

OOOOOOOOOO

A knock on the door brought Lemoz to his feet in a hurry. He checked the peephole and breathed a sigh of relief as he unlocked the door. Giovanni Nemich walked in, looking around as he did.

"Are you alone?"

Lemoz nodded.

"Where's the kid?"

"In the other room with the guy."

"What guy?"

"The one who was with the kid."

Nemich's eyes narrowed.

"You brought someone _else _here?"

"He's tied up."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Nemich asked. "All you had to do was kill the fed and grab the kid."

"He wouldn't tell me where the kid was. I-"

"He was in the apartment!"

"I didn't know… who would have thought he'd bring the kid _home_ with him?"

"You've made a mess of things," Nemich said. "Martin knows it was you. Which means he'll believe it was me."

"It was."

"Shut up!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Nemich said, pacing the length of the room. "Theo's going to have to retaliate. The only thing that will stop him now is the kid."

"He's here."

"And someone to take the blame." Lemoz hesitated, looking over at him. Before he could move or say anything, Nemich had a gun in his hand. "I never thought the day would come that you were more use to me dead than alive."

"Gi-"

The gunshot was deafening, and the thud of the body hitting the floor sounded muffled compared to it.

In the locked room less than twenty feet away, Castle flinched in surprise, and wondered what was happening.


	21. Chapter 21

There were a few odd shuffling noises on the other side of the room. Castle was pretty sure it was the sound of a body being moved, and he was glad Joel was still out cold from whatever he'd been given to knock him out. The doorknob rattled, and he stood up, uncertainly, knowing there wasn't a whole lot he was going to be able to do against whoever it was out there. Especially since it was clear they had a gun and he had his hands tied. When the door opened he was standing at the edge of the bed, unconsciously placing himself once more between whoever was coming and Joel.

The man who opened the door was someone Castle had never met, but he knew who it was. Hadn't he told Theo Martin he'd heard the name Nemich before? The guy's face had plastered the newspapers and some TV news shows. Standing about Castle's height, thin to the point of almost being gaunt, with short hair that was greased straight back, the man was almost a caricature of the typical mobster. He was also holding a pistol, which he immediately pointed at Castle.

"Who are you?"

"Richard Castle."

"The writer…"

It wasn't a question, but he didn't know what else to say so Castle nodded.

"Yes."

Nemich frowned.

"How does a writer get mixed up in this kind of situation?"

Castle shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

"You writing a book about Theo Martin?"

"I hadn't planned on it, no."

Nemich looked over at the boy on the bed. He frowned again, and Castle figured it was because of the oddity that he was sleeping. It certainly wasn't natural.

"What's wrong with him?"

"The guy that grabbed us gave him a shot. He said it would knock him out."

Nemich walked over and gestured with the gun for Castle to move away from the bed. He hesitated, but did what he was told and watched as Nemich put his free hand on the boy's neck, checking his pulse. Satisfied, he straightened up again and sighed.

"ATF is after me, Castle."

"I heard."

"Theo Martin and I are good friends. We go back all the way to grade school. They wanted him to testify against me, but they couldn't make him. One of their people – an agent named Williams – really doesn't like me, and she was furious when Theo told her no." he smiled slightly. "I might have _goaded_ her a bit when I gloated about it and dared her to try and come between the two of us."

"So she tried…" Castle said, wrapped up in the story despite himself – even though he already had been told some of it. Of course, the fact that Nemich was telling him this was almost certainly a bad sign, he knew. In _his_ books the bad guys only tell the story to the people they're planning on killing in the end.

"Yeah. She tried." He looked over at Joel. "I'm his godfather, you know…"

"I didn't know that."

"Williams had one of her guys grab Joel. I don't know what the plan was exactly, but if they were ruthless enough to kill Marissa then I figured they were going to be able to make Theo testify."

"So what did you do?"

"Sent someone to kill them both."

"Your own godson?"

"Do you know what Theo Martin loves more than anything? Even me?"

That was an easy question. Castle had the exact same answer if someone had asked him that question.

"His child."

"Right. So say Theo finds out that ATF kidnapped and killed his son… what do you think he'd do?"

"Wage war on the ATF."

"And the agent that caused the problem to begin with. I wouldn't have to worry about Theo testifying against me, and chances were he'd send someone to kill Williams – which would be even better as far as I'm concerned."

"You'd _kill_ a _little boy_ to-"

"I'd kill _anyone_, Castle, if they were in my way. I worked hard to build what I have. I _warned_ Theo not to get attached to that kid. I told him that having kids – or a wife – would make him vulnerable. And I was right. This would never have happened to me."

"Martin knows ATF doesn't have his son."

Nemich scowled and the gun moved slightly as his grip tightened on it.

"It would have worked perfectly. Now everything's messed up. Theo's looking for Joel again, and this time he knows it was one of _my_ men who grabbed you two. He had guys outside the building you were hiding out in, and my man was supposed to kill them so we could make it look like ATF had done it."

"Just give him Joel. That's what he wants."

"I give him Joel and he'll kill me. I keep Joel and I have bait. I'll use him to bring Theo to me and then I'll kill them both. I won't have to worry about ATF getting Theo to testify and I won't have to worry about Joel being used against me in the future."

"You won't have to worry about either of those things again," said a cold voice from the doorway.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Beckett couldn't stay beside Alexis and still do her job. Luckily, Alexis understood this and had been the one to pull away after a little while, gather her courage and had told Beckett that she'd be okay alone. Beckett wasn't going to leave her _alone_, of course, but before she had to try and figure out who to assign to her, Montgomery had taken that problem out of her hands by simply taking his office back from them and telling Alexis she needed to hang out with him and help him out. Since Castle played poker with the Captain he and Alexis were well acquainted with each other, so Beckett had to admit it was a good fit, as long as Montgomery was willing.

She left the two of them together and then gathered up Ryan and Esposito and headed out onto the street. They had sources of their own they could contact to look for Castle and Joel.

By the time they'd managed to hook up with the first guy they were looking for it was obvious that contacts were going to be scarce. The man they'd grabbed was a runner for one of the larger gangs that ran for Nemich, and when they collared him, he'd looked terrified.

"What's going on, Gerald?" Esposito asked as they pressed the man against a wall to make sure he wasn't carrying a weapon. "Why are you running from us?"

"I didn't know it was you guys," the man panted.

"Who else would it be?" Beckett asked.

"Word is out," Gerald told them. "Theo Martin is looking for people who work for Nemich."

The detectives exchanged a look. That hadn't taken long.

"Why?"

"Martin's looking for something."

"What?"

"I don't know! I wish I did."

"Yeah? If you did you'd tell us?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah. Yeah."

"Who would know where it is?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"I'm not! I swear!"

Esposito let the man go, and he stumbled but turned to face them.

"You guys need to arrest me or something…"

Beckett raised an eyebrow.

"Why would we do that?"

"Why would you want us to?" Ryan added.

"It's dangerous out here, tonight. You don't know how dangerous…"

Beckett shook her head.

"Find a _rock_ to hide under for the night," she told him. "But if you hear anything you call me. Understood?"

"Yeah."

They turned and left the man, but he didn't stay there watching as they left. He was already heading for cover.

"Where to now?" Ryan asked.

Beckett shrugged.

"We keep looking."


	22. Chapter 22

"This is _ridiculous_," Esposito grumbled as they left yet another well known hiding spot empty-handed. "Nemich's people are rarer than an honest car salesman."

"Gerald said they were running scared," Beckett reminded him, feeling frustrated and allowing it to show more than normal. "I guess he wasn't exaggerating."

"Guess not."

Her cell phone rang before she could suggest their next stop, and she answered it and listened for a minute before hanging up.

"We need to go."

"Where?"

"To the Warehouse," she replied.

"What? Why?"

"Nemich's people are having a _very _bad night…"

OOOOOOOOO

They were both so surprised by the voice that they jumped. Had Castle not been so startled himself he might have used the distraction to try and grab Nemich's gun. He _was_ startled, though, and it was probably just as well that he had been, because the newcomer was holding a gun, too. And was nothing like what he might have expected.

"Wow…"

It was a woman. A gorgeous woman who was tall, slim but curvy in all the right places, with blonde hair and beautiful sea green eyes. Those eyes were cold, though, and while the weapon in her hand was pointed at Nemich, Castle was certain she would have no trouble pointing it at him, too.

Nemich got over being startled very quickly, and his gun went from Castle to her before Castle had even grasped that the intruder was a woman.

"Williams…" the gun-runner growled. "How did you-"

"Find you?" she finished. "I followed Lemoz, of course. Once he had the boy I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came."

"_You're_ Agent Williams?" Castle asked, confused.

"And you're Richard Castle," she told him. "Now we know each other."

He frowned, looking at the gun in her hand.

"You're here to arrest him…?"

She shook her head.

"Unfortunately for you, Mr. Castle, I'm not."

"What?"

Nemich's smile was humorless.

"She thinks she's going to kill me, Castle. Get me out of the way once and for all. Make all her problems go away."

"But-"

"Which means that she'll need to kill _you_, of course, since you're here."

Castle looked over at Williams, who nodded.

"He's right. Sorry."

"Don't worry, Castle," Nemich told him. "She's not going to get the chance to kill you. I'm going to-"

The shot that suddenly sounded was deafening, and Castle flinched again, despite himself. The flinch saved his life, because the moment Williams' bullet hit Nemich in the chest, the mobster's finger tightened on the trigger of his own gun and he fired even as he was spun around. The bullet slammed into Castle's shoulder instead of his chest, spinning him as well and knocking him backward onto the bed.

He couldn't even grab his shoulder with his hands tied like they were. It didn't hurt all that much, yet, but it was going to, he knew. He twisted on the bed, realizing that he'd fallen across Joel's legs, and turned to look at Williams, who had knelt down next to Nemich's body, checking for life.

"Are you crazy?" He asked her in disbelief. "You're a _cop_!"

She stood up again and looked over at him, her gun actually smoking. She hadn't taken Nemich's gun from his hand, which told Castle that the mobster was almost certainly dead.

"And I just killed a _criminal_, Mr. Castle."

"In cold blood."

"He was pointing a gun at me. It was self defense." She couldn't miss the spreading stain of crimson on the t-shirt he was wearing. "Too bad I didn't kill him before he managed to kill you…"

"I'm not dead."

"You're _bleeding_," she pointed out. "Without medical attention it's just a matter of time. I have plenty of time to wait."

"And then you'll call it in and what?" he asked. "Take credit for saving tax payer money on a big trial?"

She smiled, and all he could think of was a shark. Of course, pain was starting to make it really hard to concentrate on much of anything now. His shoulder was throbbing in time with his heartbeat and there was a lot of blood trickling down his stomach under his shirt.

"Something like that."

"What about Theo Martin?"

"What about him?"

"He still knows you kidnapped Joel. You think he's going to let it slide?"

"He's going to be dead, so I won't need to worry about him."

"What?"

"Nemich actually had a good idea." She looked at the boy on the bed, who had Castle's blood on his legs, but was otherwise completely untouched by anything that was happening in the room around him. "I'll use the boy as bait, bring in Martin and kill _him_, too. Problems solved, _and _I might even get a promotion out of it."

"It's not going to work."

"Of course it will. Everyone who knows I sent Keller to kidnap the kid is dead. Except for a few of my own people. Since they happen to agree with me that some criminals don't really deserve to have us waste our time with trials they won't be talking."

Castle shook his head, tied hands in his lap. She wasn't pointing her gun at him any longer, but that was only because she knew he wasn't a threat to her any longer. He hurt, but not that much, and he decided it was a mixture of shock and blood loss that was making him feel so lightheaded and weak.

"That's crazy."

"It's efficient," she corrected. "Of course, once Martin's dead I'll have to kill the boy, too, but that's-"

"He's a _little boy_," Castle snapped, anger rousing him from the lethargy he was feeling.

"He's a _witness_," she corrected. "And because of that, he's dangerous."

"You're such a bitch."

He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Williams chuckled.

"You're not the first to tell me that. I-"

Another deafening gunshot sounded, and Williams' smile froze as her eyes widened in shock. Too numb this time to flinch, Castle watched as she crumpled to the floor, her body landing with a thud.

"Boy, you're a _mess_…"

He turned toward the doorway and saw Theo Martin standing there, several of his men standing behind him. All of them had guns out, but for a change not one of them was pointed at him.


	23. Chapter 23

Castle was too lethargic to feel relief when he saw Martin. He looked at the mobster dully as Martin snapped his fingers.

"Cut him loose," he ordered one of his men as he walked over and picked up Joel, checking the boy for any sign of injury.

The man joined Martin, but turned his attention to Castle, pulling out a switchblade and flicking it open. He cut the rope between Castle's wrists and the pain of circulation flowing back into his hands brought Castle a little clarity.

"What's wrong with Joel?" Martin asked, only finding blood but deducing quickly that it wasn't his son's.

"They gave him a shot…" Castle told him, rubbing his bloody wrists for a moment and then pressing his hand painfully against the injury to his shoulder. "He _was _breathing…"

"He's _still_ breathing." Martin passed the boy over to one of his men and snapped his fingers again. Someone passed him a cloth, and he pushed Castle's hand out of the way and pressed the cloth against the bullet wound. Then he took Castle's hand again and put it over the wound once more. "Hold that as hard as you can, Castle."

Two of Martin's men brought in a couple of cushions from the other room and helped position the writer against them to get him more comfortable.

"Is Alexis okay?"

Martin nodded.

"She's at the police station. She's scared, but she's fine. They'll _watch _her, right?"

"Yeah…" he looked at the bodies on the floor, and felt his head start swimming. "Are you going to kill me?" Castle asked, unable to feel even a surge of fear at the thought.

"Why would I do that?" Martin asked him, surprised at the question.

"I'm a _witness_…" he pointed out. "I saw you kill Williams…"

"Did you see me _fire _the gun?"

Castle hesitated, thinking, and then shook his head.

"No."

"Then you're not a witness, are you?"

Too tired to argue, Castle closed his eyes.

"I have a very good attorney, Castle," Martin continued. "The first thing he'd do if anyone brought you to the stand against me is ask about your mental capacity at the time of the murder. Considering you're trying to pass out on me, I'm fairly certain it wouldn't get past the arraignment."

"We're going to lose him if we don't get help," Castle heard one of the two who were propping him up tell Martin. "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Use an unregistered phone and call Beckett to let her know where we are."

"You're… going to stick…" he couldn't finish the thought but he didn't need to.

"No. We're not waiting. I've got a lot to do tonight, still, and the sun will be up soon. I'll leave a guy close by just to make sure no one else finds you before your friends get here – and to make sure you're alive when they arrive."

"Thanks…"

Martin smiled.

"You don't have any reason to thank me, Castle. I _owe _you – big time."

He might have said more, but Castle didn't hear it. The darkness that had been trying to pull him down for the past half hour or so was finally winning and Castle didn't have any reason to fight it any more. He drifted off, but thought he might have heard someone say the name _Beckett_ at the moment he lost consciousness.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Oh, my God…"

Beckett had seen a lot of things in her time as a police detective, but nothing quite like this. She knew from looking at Ryan and Esposito that they hadn't either.

"Wow… what the hell happened?"

They were standing in the opening of the Warehouse, looking in at a large group of bodies that had been left unceremoniously where they'd fallen.

"These guys were shot," one of the first officers to arrive told them as he walked over. "There are nineteen guys here."

"All of them shot?"

"All of _these_ guys."

"There are more?" Ryan asked.

"Three guys further in are tied to chairs."

"Shot?" Beckett asked.

"Two were burned. One was shot in the head."

"Seriously?"

"That's what it looks like."

Warned of what they were going to see now, the three walked in and studied the crime scene. Everyone in the room was pale and looked a little green, and after seeing the guys in the chair, Beckett felt green, too.

"These guys are all Nemich's men?"

"We haven't ID'd them all yet. Especially the two burned guys, but it's a good guess."

Beckett nodded and headed for the door, followed by Esposito and Ryan who looked relieved to leave.

"You think Martin did this?" Ryan asked.

Beckett shrugged.

"It's a fair guess. I'm more interested in what he _learned_, really."

As gruesome as it was she had more on her mind than even a multiple murder.

"He might not have learned anything," Ryan pointed out.

"If you were threatened with being set on fire and _you _knew something, you'd talk," Esposito said.

"Yeah. But what if _none _of them knew-"

They were interrupted when Beckett's phone rang. It was habit for her to look at the caller ID but it didn't have any information on it – which was something unusual enough that she answered immediately.

"Beckett." The two detectives with her saw her brows furrow, but she didn't say anything for a moment, listening instead. She looked at them, and they knew it was about Castle. "I'm on my way."

She hung up the phone and headed for her car.

"What do you have?" Esposito asked, following.

"Someone found Castle. He's been shot."


	24. Chapter 24

The address she'd been given brought them to a small apartment building. One of a thousand low-rent apartment buildings in the city that were owned by people who didn't really care what happened in their buildings as long as the people who lived there paid their rent on time. The front of the building didn't have a security light, but Beckett didn't need one. She pulled the car up to the front, double-parked behind a sedan that was already illegally parked, and left her headlights and flashers on, which illuminated the front door enough for the three detectives to make sure it wasn't an ambush as they rushed up the stairs to the front door.

"Number 210," Beckett told them, all of them pulling guns – again, just to be sure it wasn't an ambush. They were all well aware that Castle could be bait. Especially when it had been an anonymous caller who brought them there.

They stopped outside the apartment at the top of the stairs, but the door was slightly ajar and Beckett waited only long enough for Ryan and Esposito to get behind her in position and then she pushed it open, peeking her head in the room.

"Dead body," she announced, walking in and looking around the main room warily. Esposito and Ryan followed, both of them fanning out and heading for the kitchen and the bathroom.

"Clear," Ryan announced.

"Here, too," Esposito told them, coming out of the bathroom and looking down at the man on the floor. "Do we know him?"

"I don't."

"Me, either."

Beckett turned from the body toward the only door left and pushed it open, looking in carefully.

"Guys! Found him."

She rushed in, tripped over the body of Agent Rebecca Williams, and stumbled to the bed. Castle was stretched out on it, pale and still, blood literally soaking his shirt and the bed under him, and she couldn't help the fact that her hand trembled when she reached over and pressed her hand against his neck. It was there, but it was so faint she actually had to search for it.

"Got a pulse."

"Jesus, look at this place…"

Beckett didn't have time to look. She pulled Castle's head into her lap and slapped his cheek lightly with the palm of her hand.

"Castle!"

He didn't even flinch when she hit him. She tried again, a little harder.

"Castle! Damn it, _wake up_!"

When she slapped him the third time he groaned.

"Apples…"

It was only a whisper, but she heard him just fine. Ryan, who had noticed the body of Nemich but was still mostly focused on Castle like they all were, frowned.

"What did he say?"

"_Apples_," Beckett told him.

"Why would he say that?"

"It's his safe word."

Esposito raised an eyebrow.

"How do _you _know his safe word?"

She rolled her eyes, but turned her attention back to the writer.

"Come on Castle, wake up for me…"

"He was tied," Esposito said, reaching down with a gloved hand and picking up pieces of bloody rope.

Beckett hadn't missed the bloody wrists, but she had assumed it was blood from the shoulder wound.

"Come on, Castle…"

She slapped his cheek again as hard as she dared without hurting him and he finally opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Kate…?"

"Yeah, it's me. Stay with us, okay? There's an ambulance on the way."

"Where's Martin?"

"Did Martin shoot you?" she asked him.

"What?"

She knew he was having trouble focusing on what she was saying; his eyes were normally so bright with intelligence and humor and now they were dull and tired. She knew he was in shock – no one could lose that much blood and not be.

"Where's _Joel_?" she asked, slowly, changing tactics and taking his hand trying to get him to be able to focus.

"He…" Castle trailed off, his face tightening with pain. "He was _here_…"

"We're not going to get anything out of him," Ryan said, looking down at Castle. "Someone definitely knew what they were doing, though, when they bandaged him up."

It was true, she could tell. Castle's feet had been propped up and whoever had bandaged him had used what looked like a couple of belts to tighten the bandage when it was obvious that Castle wouldn't have been able to hold the bandage on himself.

"So someone shoots him, lets him bleed a while and then bandages him up and calls us?" Beckett asked, looking around. "That doesn't make sense."

"Best guess?" Esposito said. "Nemich shot Castle. And Williams shot Nemich. Had to be in that order, for obvious reasons, but both of the guns have been fired."

"Who shot Williams?" Ryan asked.

"Martin," Castle told them softly, his hand tightening just a little on hers as he tried to bring himself around enough to join the conversation.

They could hear sirens outside, now, and Beckett breathed a sigh of relief that they'd managed to keep him awake until help arrived.

"Who shot you?" she asked him.

He sighed, closing his eyes.

"Williams…"

Esposito shook his head.

"That can't be right."

"He's not the most reliable witness at the moment," Ryan pointed out.

"Yeah. We-"

A commotion at the door and the sudden arrival of a gurney and several paramedics, who dodged the dead bodies on the floor as well as they could kept her from continuing. She started to move as one of the medics started an IV in Castle's far wrist, but his grip on her suddenly tightened before she could let go of his hand. She looked down and saw he'd opened his eyes once more and was watching her.

"Don't…"

She knew what he was asking, but she had to let go of him. He needed help that she couldn't give him. She leaned over him, squeezing his hand for just a moment.

"I'll see you at the hospital," she promised him. "Just stay awake, okay?"

He nodded, and let her go, and Beckett stood up and turned to Ryan and Esposito.

"Find Martin. I have some questions for him."

They nodded.

"Where are you going to be?"

"The hospital."

"You want us to bring him _there_?"

"Yeah. And call the Captain and tell him to keep Alexis away for a while, at least."

Esposito looked over at Castle, who was deathly pale, and immediately understood why. He nodded.

"I'll call him as soon as we get outside."


	25. Chapter 25

Since they'd arrived in the same car Beckett left it for Ryan and Esposito and rode to the hospital in the back of the ambulance with Castle. She seated herself in the bench seat alongside the area that the gurney was locked into for the drive, which was also the side that had his hand free. The medics had already completely immobilized his wounded shoulder – although they hadn't touched the makeshift bandage and the belts that were holding it on. As much blood as he'd lost, she knew that they didn't want to lose whatever clotting had started until they were where they could replace any more blood that might flow.

He'd started to come around when they moved him onto the gurney – probably from the pain the jostling was causing – and although he was still so pale it was scary, he did manage to find her hand and look over at her once the doors had closed and they were all settled. She decided his expression was a mixture of concern and exhaustion, and something else she couldn't read.

"Kate?" his voice was as weak as his grip. Not that that was too surprising.

She squeezed his hand.

"It's okay, Castle…" she told him. "Hang in there."

He seemed to be having a lot of trouble focusing on her, but he was trying.

"You'll watch Alexis if something happens…?"

"Nothing's going to happen," she promised him. "You're going to be fine." She looked at the medic who was monitoring his vitals from the other side of the gurney. "Right?"

He nodded.

"He should be. We've given him some painkillers. With the blood loss they're more concentrated than normal, so it might cause him to be a little loopy for a while. I wouldn't worry too much about what he says."

"Loopy…" Castle echoed with a slightly dazed smile. "_Loopy, loopy, loopy.._." With the suddenness that can only be credited to someone heavily medicated, he changed the subject abruptly. "You'll watch her?" he asked again. "She'll need someone like you… smart, tough… _sexy_…"

"Sexy?" she asked, scowling over at the medic who was trying to hide a smile.

Castle didn't nod, he was too tired to nod, but he tightened his grip for just a moment.

"You'll watch her?" he asked.

"If something happens I'll watch her, Castle," Beckett promised him.

"Thanks…"

He closed his eyes and she looked over at the medic, alarmed that she'd just given him permission to give up.

"He's okay," the medic assured her, reading her concern easily. "I can't believe he's even _conscious_, really. Last guy I saw in a puddle of blood like that was a corpse."

"Castle's tougher than that," she said, squeezing his hand again and hoping for a reaction. The hand she held was limp, though, and she knew he'd passed out on them.

OOOOOOOO

The sky in the east was just starting to get lighter with the breaking of false dawn when Montgomery's phone rang. He saw the caller ID and looked over at Alexis, who was now seated in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk, looking through some of his old files to help him get them sorted. Something she actually found interesting enough to capture her attention while they waited for word from Beckett.

Alexis looked up at the ring, and he winked at her when he answered, hoping it was good news.

"Montgomery."

"It's Esposito. We found Castle."

"That's good news."

"Well, _mostly_. He's been shot – but they're sure it's not too serious, he's just lost a lot of blood. Beckett went with him to the hospital, but she thinks it might be best if you don't bring Alexis down right away."

The Captain hadn't looked away from Alexis, so he was careful to school his expression to keep her from worrying. Which worried her right away, of course. She was, in a lot of ways, just as perceptive as her father was.

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"Where is he?" Montgomery asked Esposito, ignoring Alexis' question for the moment.

"Mercy. Ambulance left about ten minutes ago. Beckett's with him."

"He's going to be okay?"

"Paramedics said he was."

"We'll be down there in a little while. Call me if there are any changes."

"You got it."

The Captain hung up and looked at Alexis.

"They found him. He's been shot, but he's going to be okay."

She looked scared, but nodded.

"Can we-"

"We need to stay away for a little while," Montgomery told her. "They're going to be working on him and they won't let you know anything until they're done. You're better off here for now, where you have something to do."

He expected an argument. Her father certainly would have argued, he knew. Instead he could see her thinking about what he'd said, and then she nodded.

"Not _too _long, though, right?"

"Right. We'll give them half an hour from now. That'll give them a head start." He smiled. "And it'll give you a chance to finish this up before I lose my helper."

She smiled – and even though it was shaky, it was still a smile.

"Did they say what happened?" she asked as she opened the file she'd closed.

"No, just that the paramedics say he's going to be fine. He just lost some blood."

"We have the same blood type, I can-"

"They have plenty at the hospital, Alexis. I promise you he's in the best hands. _And _Beckett's with him, so she'll let us know if anything happens. If he was in trouble, we'd rush down there. As it is, we're better off if we wait a little while. And so is he. Trust me."

She sighed and nodded again, but when she started back on the file she was working on, he could tell that she was far less concerned than she had been. Anxious, yes, but scared, no.

OOOOOOOOOOO

When they arrived at the hospital, Beckett was left behind as the medics rushed Castle into the back of the emergency room. With her clothes and hands smeared with his blood, she knew she should go change, but she didn't want to leave him. Luckily one of the attending doctors noticed all the blood, and the badge, and handed her a stack of clothing and gestured for her to head into the doctor's locker room to get cleaned up and changed. Grateful, she did just that, taking advantage of a large sink and a lot of hot water and soap and washed herself as well as she could before changing out of her clothes and into the scrubs. She kept her gun, her badge and her ID, but everything else was in her purse, which was with Ryan and Esposito. She didn't even have change for a cup of coffee, she realized, when she walked out of the locker room.

And right into Theo Martin.


	26. Chapter 26

Distracted by her thoughts, Beckett actually bumped into the mobster, but Martin caught her elbow before she had a chance to stumble and once he was certain she wasn't going to trip, he stepped back out of her personal space. Tired though she was from being up all night and getting up in the middle of the night before, Beckett recovered quickly.

"Mr. Martin. What are you doing here?"

She knew there was no way Esposito and Ryan had found him and asked him to join her down at the hospital so quickly – which meant that he was here for a different reason.

"I thought I'd check on Castle," Martin told her. "Make sure he was okay."

"He's not _okay_, Mr. Martin," she snapped, her own fear for Castle, and the fact that she'd just washed a large amount of his blood down the sink when all he'd done to deserve getting shot was to befriend a boy who was also as innocent in the whole thing as Castle. "He almost _died_. I have a lot of dead bodies, very few answers, and a friend who nearly bled to death in my arms tonight."

If Martin was angered at her tone of voice, he didn't show it. He simply nodded, his expression showing that he understood that Castle wasn't the _only _one that wasn't okay just then.

"Come with me, Detective," he requested, turning away from her. He didn't wait to see if she followed, but Beckett fell into step beside him only a moment later. They walked down the hall toward a couple of his men, who were standing outside a small doctor's lounge. One of them opened the door for them and Martin gestured for her to precede him into the room.

It was deserted, with a few small tables and chairs, a fridge, a sink and a large coffee pot that was burbling energetically. Martin walked over like he owned the place, took a couple of mugs and filled them with coffee and brought one over to her.

"Please, sit down."

She took the coffee, but she didn't sit down.

"Did you kill Agent Williams?"

"She's dead?"

Beckett scowled.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Mr. Martin."

"I'm not playing a game, Detective Beckett. But you certainly can't expected me to admit to murder just because you want to know what happened tonight."

He had a point. She might have hoped he answered, but even though he looked tired, too, she should have known he wasn't going to give himself away like that.

Beckett sighed, and sat down.

"Where's Joel?"

"With a doctor who's making sure whatever he was drugged with tonight didn't do any lasting harm."

"He was drugged?"

"Apparently. How's Castle?"

"He was still alive when we got here. They'll take care of him."

"That's good."

"Yeah." She took a sip of the coffee, and looked at him over the rim of the cup. "_Theoretically_… what do _you_ think happened at The Elm?"

"Theoretically?" he asked, leaning back in the chair and ignoring his own coffee for the moment. "I'd say Nemich's man kidnapped Castle and Joel, called Nemich, who killed him for his troubles. Then-"

"You think Nemich would kill his own man?"

"He was ready to kill my son, Detective," Martin reminded her, and now his eyes flashed fury, but not towards Beckett. "He's Joel's _godfather_ and he was willing to kill him. I'd say he would be more than capable of killing his own man. _Theoretically_."

"Then what?"

Martin shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Castle was tied. Joel was drugged and asleep. Nemich might have shot Castle, but the room isn't that big, and Nemich was a _very_ good shot, so there's no way he wouldn't have killed him outright if he wanted him dead."

"You think someone else shot Castle?"

"No. I think Nemich did it, only not intentionally – or he might have been interrupted as he was firing the bullet, which could have made his shot go wild."

"And Agent Williams?"

"She almost certainly shot Nemich. No one else makes sense."

"You."

He shook his head.

"If I had Nemich to myself, I wouldn't have shot him for what he did to Joel and Marissa."

"No?"

"It was a clean shot. He died quickly. _I_ would have made him suffer."

"Like tying him to a chair and _burning_ him alive?"

"I don't know what you mean, Detective."

"Right." She took another sip of her coffee. It wasn't very good, but it was helping her gain her equilibrium once more. "So Williams killed Nemich – _hypothetically _– and he shoots Castle. What then?"

"Williams is a cop – was a cop. She kills someone – even a gun-runner – and the last thing she's going to want is a witness."

"So she shoots Castle?"

He shook his head.

"Castle was _already _shot, remember? He's tied up, not going anywhere. All she needs to do is let him bleed to death and she can blame it on Nemich, proving to the whole world how amazing she is for killing him."

Beckett frowned.

"You _think_ she'd do that?"

"You met her?"

"Yeah."

"What do _you_ think?"

Beckett didn't reply, but the thought was chilling. And she knew it would have worked.

"It's all just theoretical," he reminded her.

"I know."

But she knew it was probably pretty close to the truth. The cop in her told her it was, and she trusted that little voice. It had kept her alive more than once.

"What about-"

_"Detective Kate Beckett please report to the Emergency room admitting desk. Detective Kate Beckett, please report to Emergency admitting…"_

She set her coffee down and stood up.

"I need to go," she said, unnecessarily. "Are you going to stick around?"

He shook his head.

"I'm going to spend the day with Joel."

"I'm glad he's okay. He's really a sweetheart."

Martin smiled, looking far more like a proud dad than a mobster just then.

"Thank you."

"There _will_ be an inquiry, of course."

"I imagine so," he agreed. "I have a room of people who will swear I was nowhere near the Elm last night."

"Or the Warehouse?"

"I wasn't near the Warehouse." He shooed her away when the intercom repeated the summons for her to return to the Emergency room. "Don't worry, Detective. I'm not planning on leaving town."

"I'll be in touch."

"You do that."

She turned and left, feeling a little less uncertain, but definitely conflicted. She was a cop, after all. Just then, however, she had other things to worry about.

OOOOOOOOOO

She arrived at the desk slightly out of breath. The nurse recognized her and waved her into the rear area of the emergency room, where only patients and family were allowed.

"How is he?"

The nurse shrugged.

"I'm not sure. They just asked me to make sure you were here because he's out of surgery."

"Already?"

"It was a clean wound," came another voice, and Beckett realized a doctor had come up on them while they were talking. He was dressed in scrubs similar to the ones she was wearing; only his were spattered with crimson. "The bullet didn't do much damage to muscle or tissue, but it nicked an artery – which is why he bled so badly."

"Is he going to be okay?"

The doctor nodded.

"He'll be weak and tired until the transfusions take hold, and we'll give him something for the pain, but he should be on his feet in a couple of days."

She let loose the breath she'd been holding.

"Thank God. Can I see him?"

"He's in recovery." The doctor gestured toward the corridor to their right. "First door on the left. Just remember; he's going to be groggy."

"Thank you."


	27. Chapter 27

The recovery room wasn't large. A few empty beds with silent monitoring machines hovering by each one, a shelf area with some cupboards that held spare blankets and medical equipment and one bed at the far end of the room that was occupied. Beckett walked over to the last bed, listening to the monitor as it kept track of the rhythm of his heart, lungs and even the steady drip of two different fluids that were in the IV bags on a stand by the head of the bed.

They hadn't put him upright, yet. He was flat on his back, telling her that they were still unwilling to allow gravity to pull any more blood from his chest and head than was absolutely necessary. She looked down at him, thinking that he looked even more pale now that he had when they'd arrived at the hospital, but she also knew that it was because of the white linen he was covered with and the white bandages that were covering his left shoulder and most of his chest. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be resting comfortably, but _Beckett_ was anything but comfortable.

Looking down at him, she realized just how very close she'd come to losing him. She'd told him once, not too long ago, that she was getting used to him pulling her pigtails, and someone – a _cop_, no less, if Martin was to be believed – had almost taken him away from her. Only a day ago they'd enjoyed a relaxing time at his place while she ate a meal he'd cooked. Leftovers, of course, but reheated for her, at any rate. And the company had been far more enjoyable than the food. She just didn't ever like to admit that. Even to herself.

If she had been less exhausted, she might have been able to ignore the sudden surge of grief that coursed through her at the thought of not having him around to tease her, annoy her and support her when she needed it. As it was, though, she was at her own brink just then and couldn't choke back the sob that escaped her lips and the tears that suddenly stung her eyes.

He opened his eyes, her sob pulling him from what had been a restless doze at best.

"Beckett…?"

His voice was tired but his expression a little less dazed and dull than it had been as he looked up at her.

She sniffed, wiping her sleeve along her eyes and nose before forcing a smile.

"Hey, Castle. How do you feel?"

He held his hand out a little and she took it automatically. His grip wasn't strong, but she held onto his hand tightly enough for both of them. She was too tired and was still way too close to the scare of having him bleeding in her arms for her to manage to bring up any of the barriers that she normally kept between her and Castle – and figured he'd never _remember_ anyway.

"Tired," he complained.

"You _look_ tired."

"But I'll be okay…?"

She nodded.

"You'll feel better soon. I promise."

He sighed, and started to close his eyes, but something else had come to mind and he tensed and looked up at her again.

"_Alexis?"_

"She's with Captain Montgomery. She'll be here in a while."

"She knows?"

Beckett squeezed his hand and sat down on the edge of the bed, too tired to stand.

"She knows. And Joel's okay, too, so just relax, all right?"

He nodded, and closed his eyes again, but he didn't let go of her hand and she didn't take it away from him. They sat quietly for a moment, and she thought he must have fallen asleep. Until he spoke up again.

"Where's Williams?"

"She's dead." She hadn't been planning on interrogating him, but if he was feeling up to asking questions then _she'd_ ask a few, too. "Do you know who killed her?"

He looked at her, and she could tell by his expression that he was really trying to think it over, but she knew before he said anything that he didn't. At least not right then. There was no light of discovery in his eyes, just exhaustion.

"No. She shot _Nemich_, though… and said that she was going to let me bleed… so I couldn't be a witness."

"I know." She leaned over and pressed a kiss gently against his forehead. "It's not something to worry about right now, Castle," she told him. "You get some sleep. We'll discuss it later."

For the first time his hand tightened on hers and she saw fear in his expression.

"You'll stay?"

"Yes."

"'K…"

He closed his eyes again, and this time she knew by the way his grip on her hand failed that he was asleep again.

She was ready to get some sleep, too, but couldn't just yet. There was one more thing she needed to do. She stood up and walked over to the landline that was hanging on the wall near Castle's bed.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Alexis was a bundle of nervous energy by the time Montgomery's phone rang again. She jumped, and so did he – mostly because she startled him – and she had to sit on her hands to keep from grabbing the phone and answering it herself.

He smiled, reassuringly, and picked it up and answered it.

"Montgomery."

He was quiet, and she could hear a woman's voice on the other end, but she couldn't understand what was being said.

"That's good news. We'll be right there."

He closed his phone and stood up.

"Ready to go see your dad?"

She jumped to her feet as well."

"Yes. Is he okay?"

"Beckett said he's already out of surgery and in the recovery room."

Alexis couldn't help the smile, or the excited squeal, but Montgomery understood completely. He grinned and handed over her jacket. She took it but didn't bother putting it on.


	28. Chapter 28

The rules of the hospital were fairly clear. Young people weren't allowed in the back of the emergency room. There were several good reasons for that, the biggest being that youngsters could be traumatized by something they shouldn't see and not recover from it. Another was that there were some parents who just didn't do a very good job of keeping track of their children and they ended up where they didn't belong, bothering people who shouldn't have to deal with an errant child as well as whatever else was stacked on them just then.

Luckily, Alexis was with Montgomery, who flashed his badge and asked them to make an exception to that rule. The badge, and the fact that Alexis struck the admissions nurses as fairly mature, convinced them to bend the rule for her.

"But only for a _few _minutes, okay?" one had said.

There was still the whole concern about her being traumatized, after all, and they didn't want that to happen to such a sweet looking girl.

Alexis had nodded, more than willing to agree with anything they asked as long as they'd let her in to see her dad without waiting for him to be admitted to a room. She was taken back with Montgomery to guide her, and they were pointed to the recovery room. Montgomery led the way into the actual room, and despite her desire to see her dad, Alexis found herself hanging back just a little. She knew he was going to be okay, but it was still a little scary.

Montgomery smiled from the doorway, understanding completely.

"It's okay, Alexis."

She walked in with him and the first thing they both noticed was Detective Beckett curled up in a chair beside the bed on the very end of the row. She was asleep, and dressed in scrubs, which made both of them curious about why. Alexis' eyes were drawn to her dad, though, and she walked over to him while Montgomery walked over to Beckett.

The younger Castle reached out and touched her dad's hand, carefully, but he didn't react to it. She looked at his face to see if it looked like he was going to wake up, but there was no motion there, either.

_"Daddy?"_

It was the voice of a scared child, and while it didn't wake Castle, it _did_ wake Beckett – just as Montgomery was reaching for her shoulder to wake her. She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing Alexis first and then Montgomery.

"Captain? Sorry, I must have dozed off…"

He nodded. That wasn't surprising. She looked exhausted.

"You okay, Beckett?"

"Yeah. Just, um… a little tired, I guess." She looked over at Alexis again and stood up, aching from the uncomfortable position she'd been sleeping in. Walking over, she put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

She looked up at Beckett and gave her a worried smile.

"Is he okay?"

Beckett nodded.

"He was awake for a little while, and asked about you. I told him you were fine, and that helped him relax enough to go back to sleep."

"Did Mr. Martin find him?"

She hesitated, not really all that willing for Martin to take the credit for saving Castle, but everything she knew pointed towards the mobster being the one to find Castle – no matter how hypothetical their earlier conversation had been.

"Yeah. We think so."

She looked down at her dad again.

"I called Gram, but she didn't answer her phone. She didn't take the charger with her so it might be dead and she hasn't noticed."

"We can have an officer stay with you until you can reach her," Montgomery told her.

"She can stay with me," Beckett offered.

Alexis beamed, but then hesitated.

"Gram won't call _you_. She'd call the house. Can _you_ stay with _me_, instead?"

Beckett looked over at Montgomery, who shrugged his acceptance of the idea. Really, it was up to her if she wanted to stay with Alexis or not.

It would probably only be for the rest of the day, after all. She was sure they'd be able to find Martha before too long.

"Yeah, I can do that." She looked down at what she was wearing, and remembered that she didn't have much of her stuff with her. "I'll have to get some things from my place, first."

"That'll work," Montgomery said, pleased by the solution.

He stayed with Alexis in the recovery room while Beckett went to talk to the nurses and maybe a doctor. She'd made a promise to Castle, too, after all, that she wouldn't leave him, and she was going to have to break that promise in order to watch Alexis. The doctor she spoke with, however, assured her that there was no way Castle would wake up in the next twelve hours – at least. Only when he was awake would they put him in a regular room. For now, they wanted to be able to keep him right where he was, so they could keep constant eyes on him.

Reassured, she went back to the recovery room, just as Alexis declared she was ready to leave. It was scary and depressing to watch her dad sleep. Beckett understood completely. She borrowed the Captain's phone as they walked out, and used it to call Ryan and Esposito, telling them to not bother to look for Martin and to meet her and Alexis at the precinct.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

She was sitting at her desk, looking up at the now unnecessary murder board and talking to Alexis when the other two detectives came in. Ryan handed her her purse.

"We stayed at the crime scene a bit longer than expected," Esposito told her. "Wanted to wait and see what Lanie found."

"And…?"

"Williams shot Nemich. Nemich shot the DB in the living room – who is his Lieutenant, a guy named Lemoz."

Ryan had been watching for her reaction, and was surprised when she didn't look all that surprised.

"He shot his own man," he told her.

She nodded.

"Yeah."

"You knew?"

She shrugged, but was hesitant about discussing it all with Alexis in earshot. There were some things that she just didn't need to know about.

"I need to get some clothes and get some sleep." She looked at Alexis, who looked like she was tired, too. Not surprising since she'd been up all night, too. "You?"

"Yes."

She took her keys out of her purse and looked at the guys.

"I'll be at Castle's if you need me. See if you can get hold of Martha and let her know what's happened."

Esposito nodded.

"You got it."


	29. Chapter 29

Author's note: Wow, I'm sorry about the long wait. I'm getting over what has to be one of the worst problems I've ever had with my health. They took my blood and still couldn't tell me what it was, but I've been so sick I haven't even opened my laptop in over a week. Which for me, is crazy unheard of. But I feel able to be creative, so here is another chapter.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alexis had ended up putting Beckett in Castle's bedroom. Beckett had argued, saying that she was fine with just the couch, but the younger Castle told her it was dumb to sleep on a couch – no matter how nice – when there was a perfectly good bed upstairs. When she still started to object Alexis had given her a puppy eyed look and had asked her to stay there because it'd make her feel better to have someone sleeping in her dad's bed instead of worrying about it being empty – and why.

She'd given in with a silent sigh. There was absolutely no doubt who she'd learned that particular trick from, was there? Once she'd fallen, exhausted, into the bed, though, she was glad that she had. The bed was so comfortable – or maybe she was just so tired – that she fell asleep as soon as she'd pulled the down comforter over her and had closed her eyes.

Down the hall, Alexis took a little longer. She hadn't been up as long, and she wasn't as wiped out as Beckett was. She also kept her cell phone right beside her bed, knowing that if her Grandmother tried to call her dad and he didn't answer she might try Alexis' phone before she tried the house.

OOOOOOOOO

"Any luck on Castle's mom?"

Ryan shook his head.

"Alexis said she was going to DC with a group of her friends, but they must be magicians or something, because she's vanished into thin air."

Montgomery frowned.

"Did you connect with DCPD?"

"Yeah. They'll keep looking for her and let us know if they turn her up."

"We're not worried about foul play?"

Esposito raised an eyebrow.

"You ever met her?"

"Once."

"She's fine. Trust me."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The entire troupe was holed up in Annapolis, Maryland – not actually DC. They were staying at one of the casting people's mother's summer home and had the place to themselves. Some had coupled up – including Martha – and she and her present beau were lounging on the deck sipping mixed drinks and enjoying the sunshine.

"You don't need to check in?" he asked her.

She'd mentioned her son a few times – as well as her granddaughter.

She waved the suggestion aside with the drink in her hand.

"They have my number. If they need me, they know where to find me."

"You sure?"

His own daughter had called him twice the past couple of days, probably worried that he'd fallen and broken a hip or something.

"I'm a grown woman."

He leered.

"Yes, you are."

She smiled, pleased at the complement.

"Make me another drink, dear."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

As others were resting off a restless or busy night, elsewhere in the city the scattered and in many cases terrified remnants of what had been a sizeable group of drug runners under the control of Giovanni Nemich were meeting in dark corners, safe rooms which consisted mostly of basements and rent by the week tentaments, and smoky bars that hadn't yet opened for the day. All of them were wondering where to go from there. They had heard that Nemich had been responsible for killing Lemoz and most of them believed the story.

As they gathered, however, word started to trickle down. Theo Martin was going to take over Giovanni's business, and if the people who had once been loyal to Nemich would swear loyalty to Martin, they'd not only live through the day, but they'd also manage to continue to thrive.

Almost all of them jumped at that opportunity, and in a single bloody night that he hadn't precipitated, Theo Martin suddenly doubled his wealth and his power base. Not bad. Especially since he spent the entire day holed up with his young son and well away from the prying eyes of all but those he trusted the most.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Despite the silk sheets and down comforter, Beckett didn't sleep any longer than her body absolutely required in order to be able to function with competence. It was a cop thing, and something she utilized often. When she needed more sleep later she'd get it, but for now, she found herself waking up only about 4 hours after she had fallen into the bed.

She stretched a little, lazily, but then got out of Castle's bed, padded into his bathroom and took a shower – using his shampoo and body wash since she hadn't thought to bring her own from her place. She drew the line at his deodorant, however.

Dressing quickly, she went to Alexis' room and peeked in, checking on her, but she was sound asleep. Beckett closed the door quietly and then headed downstairs to the kitchen. She made a quick call, requesting someone to come and take over for her while Alexis slept, and rifled through Castle's fridge, amazed at the dazzling array of fresh food that he had. Far more than her own sparse offerings, which were mostly condiments. She opted for easy, even though she was starving, and made a sandwich and washed it down with a glass of milk while she waited.

Just as she was finishing up, there was a light tapping on the door to let her know her relief had arrived. To her surprise, Ryan and Esposito had arrived as well. They looked tired, while she felt rather fresh.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Ryan frowned.

"Why do you smell like Castle?"

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the question, and looked at Esposito, waiting silently for him to answer the question Ryan hadn't.

"Things are pretty interesting for Nemich's people, as far as we've heard," Esposito told her. "Martin is taking over his whole operation, from the look of it."

"Really?"

"We don't have much proof of that yet," Esposito admitted. "But that's word on the street right now."

"Huh." Time enough to worry about that. Besides, she was _Homicide_ not Vice, so it wasn't really her concern. "You guys go get some rest. You look tired."

Esposito nodded.

"Where are you going? To visit Castle?"

She nodded.

"Yeah." She looked at her replacement. "When Alexis wakes up, bring her down to the hospital."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And make her eat first."

"Okay."


	30. Chapter 30

By the time Beckett returned to the hospital, they'd taken Castle from recovery and assigned him to a private room. It didn't take her long to find him, though, but she was a little surprised by the police officer who was clearly guarding his door.

"Montgomery's orders," the officer told her, opening the door for her. "Just to keep away anyone who might want a picture of someone famous stuck on his back and completely out of it."

"Is he?" she asked. "Out of it, I mean?"

He shrugged.

"Looks like he's sleeping to me. But what do I know? I'm not a doctor."

And neither was she. She had to admit, though, that he had a lot more color than he'd had when she'd seen him last. They'd changed him out of the white cloth gown and into blue scrubs, and he was propped upright by both the bed and a large quantity of soft pillows behind his head and neck. He didn't open his eyes when she walked over to his bed, but she noticed that the doctors had taken him off most of the monitoring equipment, which meant they were satisfied with his progress and weren't too worried.

She stood by his bed, watching him sleep for a long moment. Again she was overwhelmed by the fact that he'd come so close to dying in her arms. It wasn't so bad this time – she wasn't as exhausted as she had been earlier – but it still left her feeling a tad vulnerable, and even a little scared at her reaction.

Beckett started to reach out to touch his hand, decided that it wouldn't be fair to wake him just because she wanted to prove to herself that he was okay, and pulled her hand back. Instead, she settled for pulling a chair over by his bed and curling up in it, her head resting on her hand so she could watch him sleep. Time enough to reassure herself once he woke up, after all. She could wait.

She dozed off almost immediately, her body taking the initiative and grabbing the chance to make up for more missed sleep.

OOOOOOOOOO

A gentle hand on her forearm pulled her out of a restless doze and she opened her eyes, sleepily. Castle was awake. He was watching her reaction to his touch, uncertainly, and she gave him a slightly dazed smile, and reached for his hand before she could tell herself not to.

"Hey."

"Hey."

He looked tired, still, but it had been a long day, so it wasn't that surprising, really. There were dark circles under his eyes, he was still a little pale – although nowhere near as bad as he'd been – and an expression lurking in his eyes that she couldn't read.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired."

She nodded.

"You lost a lot of blood. You'll feel better once you get it all back."

"Yeah…" he trailed off, looking down at her hand, but he didn't let her go like she expected him to. "Where's Alexis?"

"Home asleep. She's wiped out."

"You look tired."

It was more of a question, and she shrugged.

"I am. It was a long night."

"A _scary _night," he said, not looking up at her.

She squeezed his hand.

"Scary for all of us, Castle."

"You're not the one the ATF agent was going to let bleed to death…"

Beckett frowned, and got out of her chair, suddenly understanding the expression that she hadn't before. He had been betrayed by a police officer and it was cutting him to the quick. Despite his bad boy attitude, he knew what everyone else knew. Cops were good, mobsters were bad. That hadn't turned out to be the case. The police – who were supposed to serve and protect him – had turned on him. One officer had, anyway. She hadn't shot him, but she had planned on letting him bleed to death, as a way to get rid of a potentially messy witness. If she could, Beckett would have killed Williams for what she'd done. Or what she tried to do. It was a cruel way for him to lose an innocence that he shouldn't have lost in the first place.

She sat down on the edge of his bed.

"She was _corrupt_, Castle…" she told him, still holding his hand. "Cops don't do that. You know that."

"She did." He looked at her, meeting her gaze with his own. "She tried to take me from Alexis. And from… everyone else that I love. How do you explain that to your little girl?"

Beckett shook her head.

"I don't know. But you need to focus on what didn't happen, Castle," she told him. "Not what did."

"What?"

"You're going to be fine. Alexis is fine. You scared the hell out of me, but you're still here – no matter how much Williams tried to make it happen another way."

"What if-"

She shook her head.

"There is no what if. It didn't happen. You're still here, and she's gone. Forever."

He leaned forward, against _her_ instead of his pillows, and Beckett gathered him in her arms, well aware that he needed to be held just then. _She_ needed it, too, really. With one arm in a sling and the other trapped between them, he couldn't hold her, but she held him tightly enough for both of them.

"It was such a close thing…" he murmured against her shoulder.

"I know. I'm sorry."

He shuddered, and she knew it was mostly reaction. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it, after all. Just the first time she'd seen it in him. She ran her hand along his back, caressing him and soothing him with touch and soft nonsense words until she felt him finally begin to relax against her once more. Only then did she push him away, making sure his pillows caught him.

"Feeling any better?" she asked him, leaning over and brushing his hair back from his forehead.

"You always make me feel better," he told her. "Thanks."


	31. Chapter 31

They didn't talk much after that. The hospital staff brought him dinner, and brought a plate for Beckett as well, which she thought was very nice of them. Chicken, potatoes and green beans with a brownie for dessert and coffee to wash it down with. It was obvious from the portions that they were trying to fill him up and get his energy back, but when they brought her the same portions, she simply shook her head. She'd already had a sandwich and was hardly starving, but she ate to keep him company while he ate, and when he devoured his entire meal, she traded him plates and let him finish hers as well.

As he ate, he asked who was staying with Alexis and he completely approved of it being her. In order to avoid any smart-assed comments, she refrained from telling him that she'd slept in his bed, but she did tell him that they were looking for Martha. He didn't have any good suggestions for them as far as finding her went, but he told Beckett that it wasn't unusual for them not to hear from her when she was out of town. He didn't clarify, and she didn't ask. Instead, they sipped the less than stellar coffee they been brought, and Castle absently reached for her hand again, telling her silently that he was still feeling off-kilter enough that he wanted her support. She didn't mind, though. It wasn't like he was hitting on her, after all, and she wanted to be there for him when he needed her.

He was still tired, though, and it showed. Especially now that he was stuffed with a good meal. His head was firmly planted against the pillows behind him, and even though he held her hand with his free one, his eyes kept closing and his grip kept slipping as he fought to stay awake.

She squeezed his hand after the fourth time he tightened his grip after almost letting her go, his eyes widening as he jerked himself awake once more.

"You don't _have _to stay awake and keep me company," she told him.

"I'm not tired," he objected.

She smiled, and pulled her hand from his.

"You _look_ tired."

"You're not a doctor," he pointed out, good-naturedly.

"It doesn't take a doctor, Castle." She moved from the edge of his bed where she'd been sitting and planted herself back into the chair she'd been in when he'd woken her up earlier. "Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up – or Alexis will."

He smiled at that thought.

"You won't leave me?"

"Not unless I absolutely have to. Go to sleep."

He nodded and this time he allowed himself to drift off when his eyes closed. She watched him sleep, waited until his steady breathing and the gentle, steady beeping of the monitor told her he was absolutely out of it, and then scooted the chair closer and took his hand once more, this time without moving it so it wouldn't wake him.

He'd been shot, so he could acknowledge the need for contact with her. She had more trouble admitting that need – especially to him. He didn't make things easy for her most of the time, after all. But since he was asleep now, she could take advantage of the fact that he wouldn't make a smart comment and reassure herself that she hadn't lost him, after all.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Anything going on?"

"No, sir. It's quiet here."

"Any sign of Feds?"

"No. There's a cop upstairs who took over when Beckett left, but I can't spot anyone else."

"We chose you because you're the best at spotting watchers."

"I know. There aren't any."

"Good. Stay there until you're told otherwise, and keep checking in, okay?"

"Of course."

Theo Martin's Lieutenant hung up the phone and went to tell his boss that everything was calm at Castle's.

OOOOOOOOO

He woke twice while she was with him. Both times he opened his eyes long enough to see that she was there, squeezed her hand as though to reassure himself that she was really there, and then went back to sleep. Shortly after the second time, she was just debating whether or not to call and check on Alexis when she heard the door opening behind her and she turned and saw the younger Castle coming through the door, looking far more refreshed than she had earlier in the day.

Beckett stood up and gestured for Alexis to join her. The girl walked over, her eyes locked on her dad – who had so much color back now that if not for the bandage on his shoulder, and the sling, he just looked like he was sleeping.

"Did he wake up?" she whispered.

Kate nodded.

"He's been in and out. If you sit here with him for a while, I'll bet he'd love seeing you when he wakes up."

Alexis smiled at that, and promptly took Beckett's chair.

"I'm going to go check in," Beckett told her. "Will you be okay here?"

She nodded.

"I'm fine."

"If you need me, tell the officer at the door. He'll be able to find me."

"Okay."

She left Alexis watching her dad sleep, and headed out into the hall, needing a chance to stretch her legs a little. She wanted Alexis to have a chance to talk to her dad before they left, and she wanted a chance to check with the nurses – or a doctor – and get some idea of when they were going to discharge him. To her surprise, as she was walking down the hallway toward the nurse's station, she saw one the men she'd seen standing guard at Castle's.

He was wearing a bandage on his head – testimony to getting clobbered – but he didn't look like he was hurting too much. She walked over to him, and he stiffened just a little, telling her without intending to that he recognized her as well. She flashed him a slight grin, to let him know that she wasn't working just then (which wasn't exactly the truth, since she was always working), and stopped by the phone he was standing by.

"Sam, right?"

He nodded, curtly.

"Detective."

"How's your head?"

"Fine."

"Are you working?" she asked, knowing he would understand the question.

He shook his head.

"Not really. Just in the right place at the right time."

"Where's Martin?"

"Who?"

Beckett smiled, amused. This conversation was so familiar.

"Forget I asked." He smirked, and she shook her head. "Have a good day, Sam."

"You, too, Detective Beckett."

She moved past him and continued toward the nurse's station. They had spotted her coming and they were ready and willing to answer any of her questions. She found that Castle was doing very well (which she had decided on her own, but she wasn't a doctor) and they had every intention of sending him home the next morning – provided someone was going to be there in case he needed something. She figured that Alexis would fit that requirement nicely, but they immediately squashed that idea, telling her that they wouldn't release him to the care of a minor.

She almost called Ryan and Esposito to see if they had had any luck finding Martha, but remembered at the last moment that she'd sent both of them home to get some sleep. She scowled, annoyed, but knew that if they didn't find Castle's mom, Beckett was in for a longer stay at his house than she intended. She wasn't going to keep Castle in the hospital – a place where she didn't want Alexis to have to continually come visit – any longer than absolutely necessary. She owed him that much for not finding him in time to keep him from being shot. Or not recognizing the fact that Williams was crazy, take your pick.

She grumbled to herself, but headed back to the room feeling a little more cheerful than she might normally.


	32. Chapter 32

Castle was awake and fairly lucent when she returned. Alexis was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his hand and talking to him, but she smiled when Beckett walked in the door – as did Castle.

"Hey, look who came to visit me…"

Beckett smiled.

"I told you she'd probably want to see you – although I can't for the life of me figure out _why_…"

Alexis' smile showed she enjoyed the teasing, and Beckett came over and sat down in the chair she'd abandoned earlier, while Castle squeezed his daughter's hand.

"Alexis told me that you've taken over my bedroom."

Beckett shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and ignoring the gleam in his eyes that told her that the moment she said the wrong thing he was going to pounce and make one of those smart-assed comments she'd avoided thus far.

"Your bed is more comfortable than the couch."

He grinned, but refrained from saying whatever it was on the tip of his tongue that would surely have either annoyed her or embarrassed her.

"And you should _continue _to use it," he told her. "It's not like I can, after all…"

"They're going to release you tomorrow," she told him.

"Really?" Alexis asked, looking pleased and a little surprised.

"As long as there's someone to keep an eye on him," she told the younger Castle.

"I can watch him."

She shook her head with a wry smile.

"It has to be an _adult_. Since we can't find your grandmother, I'll watch you guys until she comes home."

Alexis couldn't have looked more pleased, and when Beckett glanced over at Castle, she was gratified to see that he didn't seem at all annoyed at the thought that the doctors believed he needed a babysitter. He just looked pleased – probably at the thought of getting to go home, no matter what the restrictions.

"It won't be for long, I'm sure," he told her. "Mother should be home soon."

Beckett nodded with another smile to show she wasn't too concerned.

"It'll give me a chance to get a thorough statement from you," she told him.

His expression darkened a little at that reminder, but he hid it from Alexis and shrugged with one shoulder.

"I'm at your service."

"Good. But it'll wait until tomorrow when you're more comfortable. Right now, Alexis and I are going to leave _you _alone so you can get some sleep."

"Aww, do we have to?" Alexis asked, as Castle opened his mouth to complain about that idea as well.

Beckett nodded, ignoring both sets of sad puppy dog eyes that were suddenly turned on her.

"He needs to rest or they won't release him tomorrow," she pointed out.

It was the perfect argument to use, of course, and without another word of complaint Alexis gave her dad a final hug and told him they'd see him the next day. Castle looked a little more rebellious but he managed a smile when Beckett told him she'd see him as soon as she could the next day.

"Take care of Alexis," he requested. "Make sure she eats dinner and does her homework and-"

"Are these things _you_ normally need to do?" she interrupted.

"No. She usually does it on her own…"

Beckett shook her head.

"She'll be fine, Castle. I promise."

He smiled, and leaned back into his pillows.

"I'm not worried. But I'll be lonely."

"The nurses will keep you company."

As she said it, a large man dressed in scrubs came in pushing a cart.

"Time for your meds, Mr. Castle," he told them.

Castle looked over at her.

"Joy."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Leaving the hospital, Beckett asked Alexis if she minded stopping at the station.

"It won't be long," she said, "But I need to check in with Captain Montgomery and write out a statement. Do you mind?"

Alexis shook her head. She was in a good mood since she'd had a chance to speak with her dad and reassure herself that he was going to be okay.

"Can we stop and get dinner afterward?"

"Wherever you want."

The precinct was busy, but Esposito and Ryan were both still gone – although Montgomery caught her as they walked by his office and pulled her and Alexis inside.

"Do you have time to do a statement on what happened?" he asked her, giving Alexis a welcoming smile.

Beckett nodded.

"That's why I'm here."

He reached into one of the IN boxes on his desk and handed her a small stack of papers.

"These are Ryan and Esposito's. Just add onto whatever they have down and then I'll let you go so you ladies can enjoy the rest of your evening."

Beckett nodded, and headed for her desk, while Alexis sat at Ryan's with a blank statement sheet and pretended to be a busy detective, too. It wasn't something she was really considering as a career, but she looked up to Beckett and admired how competent and capable she was and that made her at least a little interested in the law. Besides, she also liked the guys her dad was working with, too, and wondered how many other career choices formed bonds like that.

Beckett was efficient at filling out forms – she did it all the time, after all – and the statement she was writing out was mainly about what they found once they'd reached the Elm. She wrote a quick summary about the scene they'd found, including Williams dead on the floor and Castle bleeding to death. She didn't include any speculations, not because she didn't want to, but because a statement wasn't the place for such speculations. The statement was facts only, and that meant she couldn't say who she thought killed Williams, or even who Castle said shot him, because that would go in his statement when she worked with him on it later. She didn't even _mention_ Martin, because she hadn't seen him there.

When she was done, she went back over to Montgomery's office and let him read it – which he did with interest.

"ATF is going to be all over this," he said, browsing it once more after the initial read through.

"Yeah. They're not going to find anything, though."

He looked up at her, after glancing over to make sure Alexis was still at Ryan's desk.

"You think she was really going to let Castle bleed to death like he says? Or do you think he was out of it?"

"I'd say both," she told him. "But I wouldn't put anything past her. She was trying to cover up the murder of Joel's mother by an agent that she probably sent over there."

"She might have even killed the kid, huh?"

"She would have had to… eventually."

Montgomery shook his head and put her report and the others in his box once more.

"Get out of here, Beckett. Take tomorrow off – but get Castle's statement so no one can say we're stalling on it."

She nodded and headed for his door, gesturing for Alexis to join her.

"We'll see you later," she told the Captain.

He just shooed her away.

Beckett smiled and looked at Alexis.

"Italian?"

The girl nodded.

"Sounds great."


	33. Chapter 33

They stopped and got take out. Pasta with sauce, breadsticks and meatballs along with iced tea would fill them nicely – and probably leave plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. When they pulled up to the loft, Beckett watched carefully for anyone who might be watching the place, but she didn't see anyone. She knew there wouldn't be a police presence – she was the police presence – but she'd wanted to make sure that Martin had pulled his people away and was also watching just to make sure one of Nemich's deposed people hadn't heard about the tenuous connection Martin had with Castle and had maybe staked the place out looking for a little revenge. It looked quiet to her, and she was able to chat with Alexis without reserve as they headed for the elevator.

They had barely let themselves in and started to open the take out containers when the doorbell rang, though. Beckett looked over at Alexis.

"Your grandmother?"

"She wouldn't ring the bell."

Good point. The detective checked the door – more out of habit than any real concern – and relaxed immediately, telling Alexis that it was someone she knew. A moment later, Ryan and Esposito were both walking into the hall, grinning and obviously well rested and unwilling to stay at home when they could be out doing something else.

"Hey! Just in time for dinner!" Ryan said, eyeing the containers as he made his way to the kitchen to greet Alexis. "What are we having?"

Beckett rolled her eyes to Alexis' amusement. So much for leftovers.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Even though it cost them their lunch for the next day, Alexis was glad that the other two detectives had joined them. They were fun company for her, and along with Beckett the three of them had plenty of history to draw on in order to tell her some very interesting stories from their time as police officers. Nothing bloody or scary – although she knew they'd seen plenty of that as well – the stories they told her over dinner were almost always humorous, although some were simply downright odd.

When they were done eating and what little mess had been made was cleaned up, she pulled out some board games and the two men proved that they were just as good at Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble as Beckett was – although Alexis was pretty sure her dad was the best Scrabble player she'd ever seen. Of course, he had a distinct advantage when it came to that, she knew.

By the time Esposito had clobbered them in Trivial Pursuit (mainly because he got lucky and got all the easy questions as far as the other three were concerned) and Beckett had proven that Scrabble wasn't just for writers, it was fairly late and she found herself yawning more and more frequently. Beckett noticed, and she called it a night before anyone could suggest another game of anything. The guys grumbled, but they could see that Alexis was sleepy and trying to be a good hostess and stay awake to keep them company. Ryan nudged Esposito and made up a story about them needing to get up early the next day to take care of some paperwork. The two of them said their goodbyes and left soon afterwards.

Alexis started to help Beckett clean up the games, but she shooed her away.

"You look tired," she said, gathering all the Scrabble tiles. "Go ahead and go to bed. I don't mind cleaning up."

"You're sure?"

"Of course."

Alexis might have tried to argue with her about it – fair was fair, after all – but she really _was _sleepy, so she nodded.

"I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight."

Beckett watched her go up the stairs and heard her bedroom door close softly behind her, and smiled. It had been a fun evening and she was glad that the guys had come by. Of course, Alexis hadn't done any homework, but there was always tomorrow for that, and she decided the girl looked like she'd been enjoying herself immensely. Which was good, because it kept her from brooding over the fact that her dad wasn't there and why.

She picked up the glasses they'd used, and rinsed them, but she decided that she was tired, too, and there weren't enough dishes to actually run the dishwasher anyway. Instead she shut off all but one of the lights, and then headed upstairs to take a quick shower before going to bed herself.

OOOOOOOOOO

The sound of someone whispering her name dragged her slowly from a heavy slumber.

_"Beckett…"_

She sighed, unwilling to wake up completely, well aware that there wasn't really any need to. She was off today. She buried herself deeper into the comforter and started to drift off once more.

_"Beckett…"_

The voice was so soft she couldn't place it. Of course, she wasn't trying all that hard, since she was determined to go back to sleep. When she felt a weight on the bed beside her it woke her a little, however, and a hand brushing against her shoulder brought her awake enough that she decided to open her eyes to see what was going on.

Sunlight streaming into the room stabbed at her eyes and she pulled the comforter over her head with a wince. She heard a chuckle, and was awake enough now to realize that the voice had no business being there.

She pulled the blanket down and opened her eyes again, certain she had to be wrong. She wasn't, though. Sitting on the edge of her bed – _his _bed, really – was Castle, looking down at her with an amused twinkle in his eyes, and a brilliant white sling immobilizing his arm.

"Castle? What are you doing here?"

"I _live _here."

She was asleep enough that she didn't even have a good comeback for that. Instead she sat up a little, confused.

"You're supposed to be in the hospital."

"They released me."

"This afternoon."

"This _morning_," he corrected.

"They weren't supposed to release you without me…"

"I just needed an _adult_," he corrected. "I wasn't a prisoner, after all."

She rubbed her face, trying to wake up and ignoring how amused he looked.

"Who got you?"

"The Mayor."

"Of course." She looked around, far more awake now. He looked like he was in good spirits, and didn't seem to be in any pain. Of course, he also looked extremely impressed with himself, and she supposed he was, since he'd caught her napping. "What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty."

"Does Alexis know you're here?"

"She was asleep. I'm going to go wake her up next."

Well aware that she wasn't really all that dressed for mixed company, Beckett rubbed her face once more.

"You go do that. I'll get up and make some breakfast."


	34. Chapter 34

Beckett had barely pushed the comforter aside when she heard an excited squeal from down the hall. She smiled; clearly Castle had woken Alexis. Well aware now that they would be completely distracted by each other – as it _should _be – she knew she could take her time getting up. She dragged herself out of bed, surprised by how tired she felt even though she'd slept in. Her first stop was another shower, even though she'd taken one before going to bed. He had good water pressure and she liked his showerhead – and fully intended to buy one for her own bathroom when she had some time to. After the shower she dressed and got ready to start her day, and only then did she head out of the bedroom and downstairs.

Castle and Alexis were both in the kitchen. She was sitting at the kitchen island still in her pajamas and watching him as he made coffee. With one arm, he wasn't doing a very good job of it, but he was smiling and cheerful and so was she. They both looked up as Beckett made her appearance, and Castle grinned, probably remembering how he'd managed to sneak in and wake her up. She returned the smile, and shooed him away from the coffee pot so he wouldn't spill the grounds and give her a mess to clean up.

"Good morning, Detective Beckett," Alexis told her.

"Morning. How did you sleep?"

"Like a log."

"I can't believe you were both still in _bed_," Castle said, sitting down next to Alexis. "Did you stay up late last night?"

"It's been a long weekend," Beckett told him as the coffee pot began to gurgle cheerfully. "Right Alexis?"

"Yes."

Castle hugged his daughter with his good arm and Beckett frowned. He certainly didn't seem to be in much pain for someone who'd been shot only a few days before.

"How much pain medication do they have you on?" she asked.

He grinned.

"A _lot_."

That explained it. She knew once the really good stuff that the hospital had given him started to wear off and he was limited to just the painkillers that they sent him home with he'd really start to ache a bit. But for now, he looked pretty comfortable.

"Are you hungry?"

"They fed me breakfast, but that was early. I could eat."

"Alexis?"

"Yes, please."

She was too, so she started rifling through the fridge, again impressed with the assortment of fresh food that gave her so many options. She opted to make French toast, sausage and fruit, and with Alexis helping and Castle telling them the story of his morning escape from the hospital to keep them engaged it didn't take long to get it all ready.

While they ate breakfast Alexis told him about what they did the night before, and all about the games they'd played. It was obvious to him that she'd had a wonderful time and he was grateful to Beckett for keeping her so entertained when he hadn't been able to be there for her himself. He also decided that they should have Ryan and Esposito over again so he could have fun, too. He'd never thought of asking them over, because he hadn't thought they'd want to spend an evening with a girl – no matter how mature and bright. He'd wait and see, though, until he could watch their reaction to the invitation. It might have been that they were just being polite, after all – even though Beckett had agreed with Alexis that they'd had a good time.

When they were done eating, Beckett declined the offer of help cleaning up and sent them off to enjoy each other's company, figuring that Alexis needed a little time with her dad to reassure herself that he really was home and okay. She cleaned up the kitchen and then helped herself to another cup of coffee; doing what she normally did over her coffee in the morning and that was considering her schedule for the day and what she needed to take care of.

Of course, today she was off, because all she was supposed to be taking care of was Castle. At the moment, though, he didn't really need all that much care. She had to do his statement and then deliver it to the station, but that wouldn't take long. Beyond that it was going to be a pretty low-key day, and she had to admit she was looking forward to it. She finished her coffee and went into the living room to see what the Castles were doing.

"There she is!" Castle was sitting on the sofa, situated so that the injured shoulder was away from Alexis, who had settled beside him. Smart of him, Beckett thought. Not that she'd press against him on purpose but accidents happened and now he wouldn't have to worry about it. In front of them on the coffee table was the Scrabble game and Beckett realized that they had been waiting for her to come in so they could convince her to play with them. "Come on, let's play."

"I don't know… I'd hate to make you look bad in front of your biggest fan…"

They both grinned at that, and she knew that with the gauntlet thrown down like that he was going to do his best to crush her. Which was fine, because while he probably had a bigger vocabulary, there was a lot more to Scrabble than just finding words. Which was why she was so good at it. But if he managed to beat her, well, that was okay, too. She could always blame it on him being a writer.

OOOOOOOOO

Alexis crowed with glee, and Castle and Beckett both shook their heads.

"_Quixotry_?" Castle asked. "What is _that_?"

"A Quixotic action or thought."

He looked over at Beckett, who shrugged.

"Look it up."

She'd never heard of it, but it didn't mean it didn't exist.

He pulled out his dictionary, and while Alexis hummed the Jeopardy theme, he looked up the word. Beckett knew from the scowl he suddenly developed somewhere around the middle of the book that he'd found the word. He confirmed it a moment later.

"Fine. It's a word."

"On a _triple _word," Alexis pointed out. "Which puts me ahead of both of you – _and _uses the last of the tiles. Which means…" she waited for one of them to say it.

"You win," Beckett told her, pleased by the girl's cheerfulness.

"Yup, that's what it means."

She stood up, did a quick happy dance, and was interrupted by the phone ringing. Since she was already up, she answered it.

"That's probably my mother," Castle told Beckett, grinning at the fact that his daughter was a very bad winner. Or maybe he was grinning with pride that she was smart enough to beat him at Scrabble with a word he hadn't ever heard of.

"It's Jenny," Alexis said, coming over. "Can I go to the movies with her?"

"When?"

"Today?"

He hesitated, and Beckett knew he was worried about letting her out by herself. Beckett caught his attention, and nodded, which made him scowl – but only for an instant. Alexis looked so hopeful that he couldn't have told her no if he'd wanted to. Which he really didn't want to.

"Fine, you can go."

Alexis squealed again, and ran off with the phone to get dressed, and Castle looked over at Beckett.

"It's safe, right?"

She nodded.

"She'll be fine." He didn't look convinced and Beckett moved over from the easy chair she'd been using and sat down next to him. "Castle… what happened is over. She's not in any danger – no more than any New Yorker, that is – and she's smart enough to take care of herself for an afternoon. You can't keep her in the house forever, you know."

He sighed.

"I know."

She smiled, and put her hand on his knee.

"Besides, I wanted to spend some time with you alone today…"

He brightened.

"Really?"

"Yes." She leaned over toward him just a little, her hand still on his leg, her eyes meeting his and holding his gaze. "I need to get your statement and I don't want her to hear it."

He groaned, but grinned in amusement at how easily she'd played him.

"That was _evil_, Detective."

She patted his leg once and moved her hand.

"I know. I'll go get the paperwork. You try to mean it when you tell her to have a good time."

"Fine."


	35. Chapter 35

Despite the teasing, Beckett knew that making a statement might not be as easy for Castle as it might be for someone who hadn't had such a traumatic injury. Not just the gunshot – which had been a clean wound, the proof being that he was already out of the hospital – but the fact that Williams had been planning on allowing him to die. And had told him that so frankly. She knew from their earlier discussion that it had stuck with him, and she wasn't surprised. With that in mind, she waited until Alexis was gone and then sat down beside Castle once more, her notebook in her hand. She'd use pen and paper for now and transfer everything to an official form later.

"You ready?"

She saw him visibly steel himself and knew that he had already figured out what she had. He'd seen her do a bunch of statements, after all, and knew what was coming. He nodded.

"Yeah."

They started with him and Joel getting abducted, and Castle's memory was crisp about that. He told her what happened, admitted he didn't have a clue who the guy was and told her about Joel being drugged to keep him quiet. He also told her how worried he'd been that Alexis might have woken up and been taken, too, and how he hadn't resisted in order to get them out of the place as quickly as possible. Beckett wrote it all down, but since this was something that she hadn't heard about before, she also found herself reliving it in her mind, and she had no trouble feeling the same fears that he had.

He faltered when she asked him where he'd been taken. Of course, she already knew the answer – at least, she knew where he'd been _found_ – but it was all part of the questioning process, and if she skipped anything the entire statement would be dismissed. He told her about the room he and Joel had been taken to, but found himself uncertain once more when he started telling her about Nemich and the brief conversation they'd had. She understood completely, but it clearly bothered him that he was having trouble remembering something that had been so clear at the time.

"It's normal," she told him, touching his arm with a reassuring smile.

He nodded, but still looked agitated.

"I was _there_," he replied. "I saw it all…"

"I know. Need to take a break?"

They'd been sitting there almost an hour already, after all.

"Maybe a cup of coffee?"

"I'll get it," she told him, standing up.

"You don't have to," he objected. "I-"

"I'm already up," she answered. "Besides, I have two hands and won't need to make more than one trip."

He couldn't argue with that logic, of course, and she went into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a couple of cups of coffee. She didn't hurry him as he took a few appreciative sips and put the cup down on the coffee table and leaned back into the sofa once more – this time with a slight wince.

"Pain killers wearing off?"

"Probably. It was too good to last."

"You okay to keep going?"

He smiled at her concern.

"Yeah."

It got more difficult, though. He clearly remembered Williams making an appearance, and remembered her shooting Nemich – which resulted in him getting shot, as well. He faltered again when he started telling her about the conversation with the ATF agent, and Beckett didn't push him, knowing how badly it had affected him. She was still unable to believe just how far the woman had been willing to go to secure a conviction. It was incomprehensible that she'd managed to pass any kind of psych evaluation. She reached out and touched his arm again, but this time it wasn't just to reassure _him_.

He seemed to understand. He flashed her a forced smile and caught her hand, squeezing it, and seemingly in no hurry to let her go.

"She was so cold, Kate…" he told her, his eyes looking off into nothing, and his mind clearly back in the room where he'd almost died. "Like the worst villain I could ever have written – only real. And a _cop_."

"I know…"

She found herself leaning into his side, and he let go of her hand to put his good arm around her, realizing that she needed the comfort she had been giving him only a moment before, and willing to give it to her. He hadn't considered that she was just as shaken by a bad cop as he was, but he realized that he should have. Beckett believed in what she did, and it probably shook her to the core that someone else had sworn the same oath she had and was so willing to break it. Ignoring the ache in his chest and shoulder, he held her closely.

"Who shot her?" Beckett asked him several minutes later. She didn't seem to be in any hurry to move, but he knew she still had questions to ask.

"I didn't see…" he answered, feeling a bit chagrined that he had to admit it. "Things get a bit fuzzy from there on." He fell silent, searching his memory for anything he could tell her. "I think Theo Martin was there – but I might have been delirious. Joel wasn't with me when you found me?"

"No. He's with his dad."

"Then Martin _had_ to be there…"

"Or one of his people," she corrected. "When I spoke to him, he told me he hadn't been there."

"And you believed him?"

"Not at all. I think he's the one who shot Williams. But if you can't remember seeing him there – _reliably_ – then we can't even bring him in. He'll have plenty of alibis for that time of night, and without a reliable witness, we don't have anything to work with."

He frowned.

"That sounds familiar."

"It's not that surprising that you don't remember," she told him. "You probably never will."

"I know. The doctor told me."

"Anything you want to add to the statement?"

He shook his head, resting his chin on the top of her head. She didn't seem to be in any hurry to pull away and he found the position restful and comforting.

"Not really. I would like to hear your version of what happened that night, though. If you don't mind…?"

He'd missed out on a lot, after all – and most of the investigation as well. His natural curiosity was begging to hear how they'd found him and what had happened.

She told him everything, figuring he'd hear about it anyway from Esposito and Ryan. Besides, none of it was a secret. She even told him about the massacre they'd found in the Warehouse, and he proved there was nothing wrong with his reasoning skills when he asked if it had been Theo Martin's way of getting the information he'd been seeking from Nemich's people.

"I'd say that's a good guess," she conceded. "And it worked. We were closing in on things, but it was an anonymous caller that gave us your location, and Joel was gone and you were bandaged when we found you."

"You're sure he's with his dad?"

"Yeah. Martin told me he had him."

They were silent for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts about what had happened, but eventually she pulled herself out of his embrace, giving him a slightly embarrassed smile.

"That can't be comfortable."

He smiled.

"You didn't hear me complaining, did you?"

"True." She looked at her watch, surprised at how much time the statement had taken. Alexis was going to be gone most of the afternoon, so she wasn't expecting her back any time soon. His face was pinched with pain, though, but she had a feeling he hadn't been hurting until she brought it up. "How's the shoulder?"

"Hurts," he admitted.

"Did they give you painkillers?"

He nodded and reached into his pocket, awkwardly, and handed them to her. She scanned the label – just to make sure there wasn't a prohibition on coffee – and then opened the bottle and handed him two.

"Take those."

He obediently put them in his mouth and she handed him his still warm but nowhere near hot coffee so he could wash them down.

Castle downed the pills – and the rest of the coffee – and set the cup back on the table.

"What now?" he asked.

"You need to get some rest," she told him.

"I'm not tired."

She smiled and held up the pill bottle.

"You will be. The only question is where do you want to sleep? Down here or in your room?"

"Are you staying?"

"Yes."

"Down here, then."

She told him to stay put, and went up to his room and pulled the pillows and the comforter off his bed, bringing them down so he could be more comfortable on the couch. He wisely kept silent while she helped him get situated, but even then she could tell that the medication was kicking in and making him sleepy.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, feeling guilty for making her watch him sleep.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I might read more of those fan fiction stories – if you don't mind me using your laptop?"

"You can use it if you tuck me in."

She rolled her eyes.

"You're already tucked in."

"Come on…"

Amused but hiding it very well behind a mask of exasperation, she went over and tucked the comforter carefully around him.

"Better?"

He nodded.

"Kiss goodnight?"

"No."

"Aww, come on…" he tapped his cheek. "It's not tucking in without a kiss…"

She shook her head, but leaned over. Just as her lips would have brushed against his cheek, he turned her head and pressed a light kiss against her lips. She jerked her head back, but he was grinning so impudently that she couldn't be offended.

"That's for teasing me earlier."

"Go to sleep, Castle." She told him, shaking her head again.

"Yes, ma'am."

Still amused and not bothering to try and hide it, he closed his eyes. She smiled, equally amused, and went to get his laptop.


	36. Chapter 36

Even with Castle sprawled on the couch snoring softly, there was room for Beckett to curl up with his laptop on the other end. The couch was more comfortable than the chairs he had, and besides, she could tuck her feet under his comforter to keep them warm. With another pillow from his bed against the armrest, it was just as comfortable as being home, and another cup of coffee kept her company as she read her way through a couple more stories on the site Castle had been reading from. They weren't too bad – a little embarrassing, in some spots – but some of them were pretty far-fetched, and many made her character out to be a damsel in distress, which was a little annoying to her sensibilities.

She read until her eyes started to ache from staring at the screen, and then she transferred her notes from Castle's statement onto the official form. He'd need to sign it before she could turn it in, but she wasn't planning on going into the station until he was awake anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal. She read through it once more, just to check for typos, and set it on the coffee table – away from her coffee cup to prevent any accidents.

A quick glance at Castle told her he wasn't probably wasn't going to be waking up any time soon, but she didn't want to risk waking him by turning on the TV. She got up quietly, and wandered into his office/den knowing she'd find his books in there, and certain that he wouldn't care if she borrowed one. She'd read them all, but she could reread part of one to keep herself occupied. She picked one of her favorites and headed back to the couch, reclaiming her spot at the other end and tucking her feet back under his blanket near his own.

Just as comfortable on her end as he was on his, she found herself dozing off before she'd even finished the first chapter. It hadn't even been a long day, and she'd slept in earlier, but there's nothing that will make a person sleepier than watching someone else sleep. She glanced at her watch, making sure it wasn't time for Alexis to be back so she didn't need to worry about her being late, but while most of the afternoon was gone, it was still early to start wondering where she was. She leaned back into the pillow and started in on the next chapter, but was asleep before she even needed to turn a page.

OOOOOOOOO

_He hurt. The throbbing in his shoulder was pounding through his entire body, making it hard for him to concentrate on the woman who was standing in front of him. She was holding a gun, but it wasn't pointed at him. Her expression was aloof, her eyes were cold. _

"_You're a witness, Castle," she told him. "That means you're a liability to me. I can't let you leave here alive."_

_He was too tired to argue with her. Too miserable to even try to think of something to say. Besides, he could see in her eyes that nothing he said was going to make a difference._

_Then out of nowhere a shot rang out, deafening him momentarily. The woman in front of him fell and the gun clattered from her lifeless hand._

Castle jerked awake, wincing as the motion caused the ache in his shoulder to deepen until it seemed to be in his whole torso, with pain running down his arm to his fingertips. He bit back a curse, and when he had a chance to look around and get his bearings he was glad that he had.

He was on the couch where Beckett had left him, but she was curled up on the other end, asleep, with one of his books in her lap. He was still for a long moment, watching her sleep, enchanted by how peaceful she looked asleep as opposed to when she was awake and there was always that lingering hurt in her expression.

Quietly, carefully, he slid out from under the blanket she'd tucked around him and stood up. His stomach was growling like he'd never eaten before and he really needed to use the bathroom. Otherwise he might have watched her sleep even longer. As it was, he gently pulled the book from under her hand, and then pulled his blanket up over her, making sure she was warmly covered. He put the book on the coffee table, and leaned over her for a moment longer, pressing a tender and feather-gentle kiss against her cheek.

After all, it wasn't a tucking in without a kiss.

That done, he left her to her nap and headed down the hall.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The sound of a cell phone ringing brought Beckett awake, and she opened her eyes and sat up, still half asleep, looking for her phone.

"It's mine," Castle told her from where he'd been sitting nearby. He glanced down at the phone. "And it's Alexis." He smiled and answered the phone. "Hello, Daughter."

She watched as he listened to whatever she was telling him. She could hear Alexis' voice, but couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Hold on, let me discuss it with Beckett…" he turned to her. "She wants to stay overnight at her friend's house. Her dad managed to get tickets to some science symposium…" he rolled his eyes and Beckett smiled. "She wants to know if it's okay, or if you need her help babysitting me…"

Which made him roll his eyes again.

Still sleepy, Beckett shrugged.

"I can handle you. Tell her to have a good time."

There was an excited squeal on the other end of the line, telling her that even though she couldn't understand Alexis, the girl had had no trouble understanding her. Castle smiled and put the phone to his ear.

"You heard? Yes. Have fun and be home at a reasonable time tomorrow. It's a school night." There was a pause as she said something. "I love you, too."

He hung up and put the phone down on the coffee table, and Beckett stretched, realizing that he'd covered her with the blanket and he _didn't _look like he'd just woken up.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Not too bad. How was your nap?"

"Peaceful. Thanks."

He nodded.

"You must have needed it. It certainly couldn't have been the reading material."

"It wasn't." She looked at her watch, and realized it was early evening – which meant she'd slept for a few hours. "Still no word from your mother?"

He shook his head, smiling.

"She must be having a very good time. But if you have other things you need to do, you don't really have to stay and watch me. I'm fine and-"

"No," she interrupted him. "With the medication you're taking, you really _do_ need someone to watch you once you've taken it. You never know what kind of reactions there can be. I don't mind staying with you, I just need to go get a change of clothes if I'm going to stay over again."

"I just put dinner in the oven, so you have about an hour and a half…"

"You made dinner?"

She was supposed to be taking care of him. He shouldn't have to cook.

"It's just a frozen casserole. But it's good. I promise."

"Are you up for a drive?"

He hesitated, but shook his head.

"Not really. If I promise not to take anything while you're gone, can I stay here?"

"Yes." It wasn't like he was a prisoner, after all. "But if you need me, call. Okay?"

"I promise."

She pushed the comforter aside and got up, stretching again.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Want me to stop and pick up anything?"

"Ice cream?"

"Sounds good."

Beckett only took a few minutes more to make sure she was awake and then grabbed up her car keys and purse. With a final admonishment to call her if he needed anything, she left.

Castle smiled at the over protectiveness, and did his best to fold the comforter one handed before he gave up a few minutes later and just left it in a heap on the end of the couch she'd vacated. Then he flopped down as carefully as he could without hurting himself, and reached for his laptop.

The doorbell rang only a moment later, and Castle stood up – again as carefully as he could so he wouldn't hurt his shoulder.

"You can just come in, Beckett," he said as he walked over and opened the door. "It's not-"

He trailed off as he found himself being hugged as tightly as he could be, and only an instant later recognized that it was Joel who had firmly attached himself to his waist. At the same instant he realized that it wasn't Beckett at his door, it was Theo Martin.


	37. Chapter 37

_Author's note: This is a little short, but I did that on purpose, because I only wanted one 'scene' in this one._

OOOOOOOOO

Despite his surprise, Castle used his good arm to hug Joel tightly as the boy squeezed him. He was genuinely relieved to see the boy, since it meant that he really was okay.

"Hey, Joel," he murmured. "How are you doing?"

The boy grinned up at him.

"Good."

"Can we come in?" Martin asked sarcastically, drawing Castle's attention from the boy.

His sense of humor taking over, he smiled.

"You're _knocking_? And _asking_ to come in, even, huh?"

Martin shrugged, and brushed by him, careful not to touch the arm with the sling.

"Wouldn't want you to call the cops on us."

"Speaking of…" Castle said, moving aside and guiding Joel into the loft as well. "You just missed Detective _Beckett_."

"I know."

The way he said it made Castle realize the timing was way too good. He'd missed Beckett on purpose.

"Oh."

He was reminded that Theo Martin wasn't a friend coming by for dinner. He was a mobster. And from what Beckett had told him about the people who had been shot and even burned to death was any indication, he was also extremely dangerous.

"Joel was worried about you," Martin told him, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. "Weren't you?"

Joel nodded with a wide smile.

"Yeah."

Castle echoed that smile.

"I'm fine."

"Joel, do me a favor and go watch TV for a minute, will you? I want to talk to Mr. Castle."

The boy nodded and went over to sit on the couch, picking up the remote control to find something interesting. Castle looked over at Martin, curiously.

"Want a cup of coffee?"

"Sure." They walked into the kitchen and Martin waved Castle to one of the seats by the island. "I'll get it, you sit down."

It wasn't hard to find the coffee pot, after all, and Castle only had one hand to use. Martin obviously didn't want to wear his coffee.

"So…" Castle asked, after the mobster had put a cup of coffee in front of him. "You want to talk to me?"

Martin shrugged.

"I wanted to thank you. And apologize."

"Thank me?" Castle asked, confused.

"For watching Joel for me…"

"We got _kidnapped_. I didn't do a very good job of-"

"He's safe," Martin interrupted. "And you got shot watching him, and for _that_ I'm sorry."

Castle shrugged, embarrassed, and winced at the motion.

"It's okay."

Martin looked like he wanted to say more, but he nodded, instead.

"Just remember… I owe you."

Having a mobster _owe_ him was definitely something he wasn't so sure of, but he didn't argue. Instead, he changed the subject, looking toward the living room.

"So what happens next with you and Joel?"

Martin sighed, and took a sip of his coffee.

"He's going to go live in Seattle with his uncle."

Castle didn't miss the pained expression on the mobster's face, and he felt a pang of sorrow, too.

"That's too bad."

"Yeah." He looked toward the living room, too. "But necessary. No one will know him there, and he can have a regular childhood. Here he'd be in constant danger of someone snatching him to use him against me."

"Did you tell him yet?"

"No." He obviously didn't want to discuss it, though, because he changed the subject. "Is Beckett staying with you?"

"Yes. The hospital said I needed a babysitter – and Alexis isn't old enough. She was kind enough to offer. Or maybe she just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything stupid and get hurt again."

Martin smiled.

"Probably a bit of both. She's a formidable woman, I've noticed. Watch yourself."

Castle took another sip of his coffee.

"Isn't that advice you should take, too? I heard that word on the street is that you're taking over Nemich's operations…"

The mobster tensed, and Castle wondered if he'd gone too far. Martin was obviously wondering the same thing, but eventually he shrugged and smiled again.

"Beckett's _homicide_. And I'm really glad for that, believe me."

Which made Castle smile, too – although part of his was relief, and Martin put his cup down.

"We need to get going."

The two men headed back into the living room and Joel looked up from the cartoon he'd been watching. Martin held out his hand, and the boy immediately joined him.

"Tell Mr. Castle goodbye, son."

"By Mr. Castle," Joel told him.

Castle, knelt down and Joel came over for another hug.

"You remember what I told you?" he asked the boy.

"What?"

"My friends call me _Rick_. You can call me Rick."

Joel hugged him.

"Bye, Rick."

"Bye, Buddy."

He let him go and stood up, wincing, and Martin held his hand out to him.

"Thanks again, Castle."

"_You_ can call me Rick, too," the writer told the mobster. "You saved my life, after all…"

The mobster smiled. Castle wasn't supposed to remember that. He wasn't worried, though.

"If you ever need anything, call."

"Thank you."

With that, the mobster and his son both left, and Castle sighed, feeling a bit depressed. It had to be a hard thing to give up his son just to make sure he was going to be safe. He'd be so torn if he had to make the same decision regarding Alexis. He found himself wishing she were there so he could hug her.

He sat down on the couch, knowing that dinner didn't need any help from him, and turned off the TV. Then he reached for his laptop. He needed a distraction.


	38. Chapter 38

It was times like these that Beckett was glad she didn't have a pet. When she arrived at her place, she didn't need to check on a dog, or a cat or even feed a fish. She didn't need to worry about who was going to take care of it while she was staying over at Castle's that night, or the night before, and she didn't have to worry about not spending enough time with it. Which was the _reason _she'd elected not to get a pet in the first place. She never had a lot of time for herself, much less a dog.

She _did _stop to water her plants, though, before she grabbed up a change of clothes for the next day and put them into a bag. Beyond that, there wasn't much that she needed since she'd brought over most of the basic staples the evening before. She did, however, open her freezer and pull out a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She didn't know what Castle liked, but that was her favorite and this way she didn't need to stop anywhere else.

All things considered, by the time she returned to Castle's she was in a pretty good mood and ready for whatever the evening might bring. Even if it was just a cut-throat game of Scrabble. When she knocked on the door and let herself in without waiting for a reply, though, she was a little surprised to see him slouched on the couch instead of as cheerful as he'd been when she'd left him only an hour or so before.

He looked up as she walked over and set her bag down on the coffee table, and she frowned, putting her hand on his forehead.

"Are you feeling all right?"

He looked surprised, either by the touch or the concern, she wasn't sure.

"I'm okay. I just… had a visitor after you left."

She pulled her hand from his forehead, knowing from the way he said it that it wasn't the next-door neighbor asking to borrow a cup of sugar.

"Who?"

"Theo Martin."

"Really? Are you okay?"

Castle smiled, wryly.

"He _knocked_ this time. And brought Joel to say good-bye."

"Good-bye?"

"Yeah…" he stood up, restless, and walked into the kitchen to check dinner. Beckett followed him with the ice cream and set it on the island, but her attention was completely on him. "He's sending him to live with his uncle in Seattle."

"Really? Why would…" she trailed off, figuring it out on her own even as she was asking. "Oh, that's _really_ sad…"

He nodded.

"I was thinking how hard it had to be, to make a choice like that. I couldn't even imagine having to do it if I were in his place. How do you choose between seeing your child every day and knowing they're safe if you send them away and never see them?"

Beckett rubbed his back lightly.

"You won't need to ever make that choice, Castle," she reminded him.

"I know…"

"But you're still depressed…"

He sighed and nodded.

"Yes. I mean, I know he's a _mobster_, and dangerous, but he's also a _dad_, you know…?"

"Yeah, I know." She put her arm through his good one, and turned him around, facing him back toward the living room. "Come on, Castle, let's go sit down for a while."

He let her walk him back to the couch and when she sat down he eased down next to her, reaching for her hand almost absently. She took it and leaned back into the cushions behind her.

"I'm depressing you, aren't I?" he asked her after a minute.

She smiled, and squeezed his hand.

"It's the medication you're taking," she told him. "It's going to throw everything out of whack for you for a while. Depression can be a side effect – or at least the fact that things can make you moody very quickly is. It's one of the reasons you needed to have an _adult _watching you and not Alexis. As mature as she is, it's not something she should have to deal with."

He frowned.

"I'm _hormonal_?"

She chuckled.

"No. You're just taking some _really_ good painkillers. Relax; in a few days you can cut back a bit. Tell me what else Martin wanted."

Castle told her about the short visit, including the compliment Martin had given her when he told him that he was glad Beckett was homicide and not vice, but before she could comment on much more than that particular statement, the timer went off in the kitchen, letting them know that dinner was ready. She let go of his hand and stood up, then helped him to his feet.

"Hungry?"

He smiled, clearly in better spirits than he had been when she returned.

"Yeah."

They went into the kitchen and since there was absolutely no way she was going to let him try pulling a hot casserole dish out of the oven with one hand, she shooed him over to get plates and silverware while she did the honors.

"Here or the table?" he asked, dubiously.

"Whatever you want."

He opted for the island, and set two places while she turned the oven off.

"Tell me this isn't my ice cream…?" he asked, drawing her attention to a bag he was holding. A bag that was dripping green liquid that smelled just a tad minty.

"Damn it." She'd forgotten to put it in the freezer in her quest to cheer him up. "Yeah, it was mint chocolate chip."

"It still is," he told her with a grin as he threw the bag away, melted ice cream and all. "We'll have to think of something else for dessert."

Beckett wiped up the mess (after all, it was _her _fault) and Castle brought out some wine and glasses.

"No alcohol, Castle."

Not with his meds.

"It's _wine_, that's not really-"

"Milk, juice, water, anything but wine or beer."

He scowled, and she smiled as he put the wine away and reached for a pitcher of iced tea.

"Do you need me to cut your food for you?" she asked, washing her hands.

His scowl faded, and his expression turned smug.

"No. That's why I made _casserole_. It's already in little pieces." He looked at the steaming hot dish, and then at his one available hand. "You might need to dish it up for me, though…"

"I can do that."

OOOOOOOOOO

They took their time eating. There really wasn't any reason to hurry through the meal, after all, and like Castle had told her, it was pretty good, so Beckett took the time to savor it, and Castle tried to perfect the one-armed – _wrong hand_ – eating method without making too much of a mess. It didn't work very well. More casserole fell off his fork to land on the floor, on the counter and in his lap than he actually managed to get into his mouth. Each failed attempt at a bite brought a muttered curse (and some not so muttered) and a wider grin from Beckett.

He frowned over at her after the seventh or eighth time.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

She shrugged, trying to look innocent and failing.

"Yeah. A little. I'm thinking you might have been better off with something that needed cutting. It might have stayed on the fork better – and certainly would be easier to clean out of your pants."

"Cute."

She smirked.

"You realize _you're _going to have to help me get cleaned up?" he asked her with a smug look of his own. "I can't do it one-handed."

She lost her smirk immediately.


	39. Chapter 39

"_Seriously_? You can't do this by yourself?"

Castle shook his head, putting his plate in the sink to be rinsed later.

"Another reason I needed an _adult_ to baby sit me, I suppose. I can't get my shirt off on my own – without it hurting so bad that they'd have to _triple _the dosage of the painkillers they're already giving me. Not to mention I can't change the bandages – which has to be done every night…"

She hadn't considered that, but the more she did, the more she realized he was right. It wasn't something she'd be able to do, so it obviously wasn't something he could.

"Well, I'm not helping you undress in your bedroom."

"It's where my clothes are."

"You can bring them down here."

"And we're going to change my bandages in the _kitchen_?" he asked, pointedly.

"We'll use the bathroom," she decided. "Go get whatever you're going to sleep in and meet me back down here."

He did what she told him and headed slowly up the stairs, while Beckett took the time to clean up the kitchen a little before she found the bag he'd brought home with him from the hospital with all the equipment for changing his bandages. There was also an extra sling, but she left that where it was and caught up the bag and headed to the downstairs bathroom.

He arrived only a few minutes later, carrying a T-shirt and a pair of sweats.

"If you even _hum_ any stripper music, I'm going to beat you over the head with the bathtub. Got it?"

Castle grinned.

"Yes."

"Good. Let's get your sling off…"

He lost his smile immediately, because even with her being as gentle and careful as she could be, his shoulder was jarred more than once while getting the sling off, and he was sweating before they even finished that small project.

"Sorry."

He nodded, breathless.

"It's okay…"

She stepped up to him, watching his eyes to make sure he wasn't going to pass out on her as she started unbuttoning his shirt. He didn't say a word as she unbuttoned it and eased it off his shoulders, but when her hand reached for the bottom of his t-shirt to try and figure out how to get it off, he couldn't keep his mouth shut if his life depended on it.

"Careful, now, or you'll have to _marry_ me."

She smiled, more amused than annoyed.

"I know what I'm doing," she assured him. "Hold still."

Beckett pulled his shirt up and with his help she eased his good arm out of the t-shirt first and then brought it over the injured shoulder and down that arm, until he was shirtless.

"Your turn," he told her, trying to smile, but she knew he was hurting, even with what little they'd done so far.

"I better pass," she told him. "What if your mom walked in on us…?"

"She'd wonder what we were doing in the _bathroom_…"

She smiled, and had him sit down on the edge of the tub while she wet down a washcloth and soaped it up. While a sponge bath hadn't been part of the list, she figured he'd feel better if he was clean and he wasn't going to be able to shower any time soon.

He wisely stayed quiet while she ran the washcloth over his back, belly and his good shoulder, but avoided the bandaged area completely. She rinsed out the cloth to clean off the soap and then dried him with a fluffy towel.

"You okay?" she asked him, draping the towel over his good shoulder.

The quick washing had given him a chance to let the pain fade a little – as she'd intended – and he nodded.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She hesitated, but then blurted what was on her mind. "This is going to _hurt_…"

He nodded.

"It hurt at the hospital, too. I trust you."

Beckett hesitated but only for a minute, and then she pulled the old bandage off as carefully as she could, grateful for his sake that the people at the hospital had shaved his chest in the area the bandage was covering. That way when the tape came off, it wouldn't take any hair with it and hurt him more than it already was going to. She checked the gunshot wound, which had been stitched closed with only a few stitches to mark the spot where he'd almost bled to death a few days ago, and something must have shown in her expression because he caught her hand in his good one, startling her out of her reverie.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded, embarrassed.

"Yeah. Sorry. I was just… um…"

"I'm okay," he assured her, figuring it out immediately.

She tried to shrug it off, but she found she couldn't.

"It was _really_ close," she whispered, feeling a sting that she tried to wipe away before he noticed it. "I – we almost lost you."

He didn't know what to say to that, not without embarrassing her, and while it was one of his favorite forms of entertainment it was never done maliciously and he'd rather have beaten himself over the head with his own bathtub before he hurt her or made her uncomfortable. Instead, he squeezed her hand silently; giving her the time she needed to pull her emotions together. Which she did quickly.

Flushing, she wiped her eyes again and cleared her throat.

"Let's get a new bandage on so you can put a shirt on…"

"Driving you crazy?"

She smiled, knowing he was teasing her to try and cheer her up and appreciating it.

"Yeah, pasty white skin does it for me every time."

He chuckled and held still while she spread the medical cream on his wound with care and then put on a new dressing. The t-shirt came next and it hurt just as much to put it on as it did to get the other one off. She helped him into the sling, and then started to gather up the mess.

"You're not done, yet, are you?" he asked.

She frowned.

"Yes…"

"What about my _pants_? Aren't you going to help me change…?"

She rolled her eyes, smiling again.

"I think you'll be okay."

"But-"

She closed the bathroom door firmly behind her as she left, and was still smiling when she sat down on the couch, close enough to hear him if he really did need help, but far more comfortable curled up against the cushions once more. While she waited for him she reached for his laptop, noticing that he'd plugged it in to charge it at some point that day.

She was already into a new fanfiction story when he came out, wearing sweats and the t-shirt and looking just pale enough that she wondered if she actually should have helped him.

"You all right?" she asked, concerned.

He came over and sat down beside her with a deep sigh, his bad side away from her and against the end of the arm of the couch.

"Yeah." He looked at his laptop. "Whatcha reading?"

She turned a little, shifting so she was sitting closer to him so he could see the screen.

"Just some story."

He leaned over, and grinned when he saw what it was.

"You're _addicted_!"

"No, I'm not."

"How many fanfiction stories have you read, now?"

"A couple…" she said, defensively.

"More than that, I bet…"

"How many have _you_ read?"

"A lot. I _am_ addicted. I admit it." He put his good arm around her, easily. "Now scoot closer so I can read over your shoulder, or give me my laptop back."

Like _that_ was a choice? She moved over until she was comfortably tucked against him, listening for that sharp intake of breath that would let her know she was too close and hurting him, but it never came. She went back to the beginning of the story so he could catch up, and he idly rested his chin on her shoulder, more than willing to spend the evening relaxing with her, reminding her that she hadn't lost him after all, and that he was right beside her.


	40. Chapter 40

The first story was interesting enough to make them look for another. They chuckled over some of the titles and descriptions, and shifted positions just a little to get more comfortable as they settled on the next story. Which turned out to be badly written and not much more subtle than a porno. The first chapter wasn't too bad, but the second one had them in bed together and going at it like a couple of bunny rabbits.

"New story," Castle told her, and she could feel his blushes against her skin. Or maybe it was her own.

"Definitely."

She closed that one and they looked for a different one, checking the descriptions a little more carefully. The one they finally chose was longer, but they both were fast readers so that wasn't going to be a problem. It was a nice way to spend the evening. Before they started on it he shifted against her again, and she leaned away from him to give him some room.

"Am I too close?" she asked, wondering if leaning against him like she had been had been hurting him.

He smiled.

"Not at all. I just need to reposition."

Since he was the hurt one, she was more than willing to let him choose his spot and position. While he did that, she excused herself and went to change into the sweats and t-shirt she was using as pajamas. It was more comfortable that way. When she returned, he had repositioned the pillows from his bed and one of the couch cushions and was now sitting with his back against the side of the couch and his injured arm tucked carefully into a corner where the back of the sofa met the arm. It was a smart position, but a fair bit more intimate and she hesitated to join him.

Castle understood the hesitation immediately, and looked amused more than concerned.

"I'm not going to _bite _you," he told her. "And I'm in no condition to try and _seduce _you. It's more comfortable, though, and this way we can stretch out a little."

When he put it like that, she had to admit that he was right. She shrugged and joined him, leaning against his chest and belly and once more worrying that she was putting too much of her own weight against him. He wrapped his good arm around her from behind, pulling her up against him snugly to silently let her know how much he could handle, and then once she was settled he pulled the comforter over the both of them and she put the laptop back in her lap. His arm went around her once more, and Beckett had to admit she kind of liked being held like that. Not that she'd admit it to _him_, though.

"That's better," he murmured, putting his chin on her shoulder once more so he could get a better look at the computer.

"Yeah."

It was the only admission he'd get from her, and he knew it, but he could tell that she was comfortable. She'd never have been able to hide any tenseness from him as closely as he was holding her.

The story took longer to read, but it was interesting enough to hold their attention and the author had fair command of grammar and sentence structure, so that made it that much easier to read. The characters ended up sleeping together – he noticed that was a common theme in the stories and fervently wished real life would imitate art in that respect – but it was tasteful and not too descriptive, and fit the story fairly well. When they'd both finished the final chapter, Beckett yawned and put the laptop on the coffee table without changing her position at all.

"That's enough for me," she told him, pulling the blanket up a little and resting her hand against the forearm that he was using to hold her. "My eyes are getting tired."

He nodded his agreement, and moved his head from where it rested on her shoulder, stretching his neck a little to keep from stiffening up.

"Mine, too."

"How do you feel?" she asked, turning just a little so she could look up at him. "Hurting?"

"A little."

"Want me to get you a pill? It's pretty close to bedtime anyway, I think…"

He shook his head, his arm involuntarily tightening its hold on her.

"Not yet."

"There's no sense in hurting, Castle," she pointed out. "Not when you have painkillers to keep it from happening."

"I'm _comfortable_."

She smiled and pulled away, getting up and leaving him in sole possession of the blanket.

"I'll be right back."

He sighed and nodded, leaning against the pillows once more and closing his eyes. It had to be one of those mood swing things, but he was really disappointed that she'd gotten up.

"Here," she said, startling him out of what had turned into a half-doze, and making him open his eyes again. She was holding a pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Take that."

He did what she told him, downing the pill and then handing her the glass back. She set it on the coffee table with the laptop and then held out her hand.

"What?" he asked.

"You probably won't last long before that puts you to sleep. We should get you to bed."

"I don't want to go to bed…" He knew he sounded a little petulant, but he couldn't help himself. "I wanted to cuddle."

It popped out before he could censor himself, and he cringed, but when he dared to glance up at her she didn't look mad or offended. Just a little amused – and something else that he couldn't read.

"I know," she told him, taking his hand and helping him ease himself to his feet. "But you won't be able to rest without a painkiller and _I_ won't be able to sleep until I know you're okay."

Castle heard more in that statement than she'd probably intended to say, but even doped up he was perceptive. Or maybe he was just more tuned into her than either of them expected. He squeezed her hand.

"I'm going to be _fine_."

She nodded, but wouldn't meet his gaze.

"I know. Come on, I'll tuck you in…"

She picked up his comforter with her free hand, but the other hand didn't try to let go of his as they walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. She made his bed for him while he visited the bathroom, and when he came out he saw that she had brought up the pillows from downstairs as well.

"Will you stay with me for a while?" he asked.

"I'd better not…"

He smiled, despite the pang of disappointment that he felt at how quickly she'd decided.

"Worried about what might happen?"

Which made _her_ smile, too.

"You're not in any condition to try anything," she reminded him.

"Then you're safe, aren't you?" He told her. He lost the amusement in his voice and expression and turned serious. "I won't do anything, I promise. I just don't want to be alone right now…"

He could see her hesitate, but then she nodded.

"Okay."

He got comfortable first, just like they'd done it downstairs, and then she curled up beside him, almost touching him, but not quite. Castle sighed, and reached for her hand, which she willingly gave him.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

"But something is wrong…?"

She rolled over so she was on her side and facing him.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you seem okay one minute, and then a while later it almost seems like you look guilty."

Beckett was surprised by that. She thought she'd been hiding it, but obviously not. Or he knew her better than she thought.

"I should have found you…"

"You did find me."

"We were given a _tip_. It's not the same. If I'd found you before Williams had had a chance to get there, you never would have been hurt and wouldn't be so miserable right now."

Castle rolled onto his side, too, a little more carefully since it was his bad side. The pillows did a lot to cushion the motion, though, and the painkiller was already kicking in, he decided.

"You know what I remember…?" he asked her.

"What?"

"You. Holding my hand and talking to me." He looked down at their hands. "You probably saved my life, you know… I was so tired…"

"I can't believe you remember it," she told him.

"You looked so scared…"

"I was."

"But you pulled me through and we both made it. You don't have anything to be sorry for."

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't look guilty, either. He leaned over and brushed a kiss against her lips before she realized what he was going to do, and they both blushed just a little

"I thought you weren't going to _seduce_ me…?" she reminded him.

"I'm not. I just want to cuddle, remember?"

She chuckled, but allowed him to pull her even closer, until her forehead was resting lightly against his chest, and he could hold her, his free hand brushing against her back, gently, and his bad arm between the two of them.

"Good night, Castle."

His hand stilled, and he leaned back just enough so he could see her face.

"You know… you used to call me _Rick_… you still can. I won't tell anyone."

She used to call him _Ricky_, as she recalled, and it had almost always been sarcastic. But she didn't remind him. Instead, she reached up, took his head in her hand and pulled him closer so she could press her lips gently against his for the briefest of moments. Then she tucked her head under his chin and cuddled against him.

"Good night, Rick," she told him.

He smiled, closing his eyes and hugging her as close as he could without hurting himself.

"Good night, Kate."

She _had_ planned to just stay with him until he fell asleep, certain that the medication would keep him asleep even if she slipped out of the bed. What she _hadn't_ planned on was the fact that she was warm and comfortable and it had been a long time since she'd cuddled, too. She fell asleep almost as soon as he did.


	41. Chapter 41

The transition from sound asleep to wide-awake was usually a slow one for Castle. Mainly because he had a comfortable bed – and sometimes because he was sleeping off more drinks than might have been good for him the night before. In this instance, a dull throbbing pain was pulling him from one state to the other. Nothing so terrible that he couldn't handle it, but just enough to intrude on his awareness and remind him that he wasn't in the best of health just then. Which led him to remembering _why_ he wasn't, and that led him to remembering that he hadn't been alone when he'd gone to sleep. Which served to wake him up completely, and he opened his eyes, hoping to see Kate Beckett sleeping next to him.

She wasn't there, though.

He sighed, not lifting his head from the pillow. She'd probably stayed with him until he was asleep and then went and slept on the couch or something. Which had been nice of her, but liked the idea that he'd held her all night, even if he didn't remember it. He glanced at the other pillow and saw it still held the depression from her head, which made him reach out automatically with his free hand and touch the place she'd been. It might have been his imagination, but it felt like there was still a residual of body heat.

Maybe she hadn't slept on the couch after all. He listened for any sound in the room or in the adjoining bathroom, but didn't hear anything, and then realized that he smelled coffee coming from downstairs. He turned his head and looked at the alarm clock and saw that it was almost 9AM. Definitely time to get up. Especially if there was already coffee waiting for him.

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett was at the table, reading the paper and sipping on her first cup of coffee of the morning when Castle stumbled sleepily down the stairs. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and looked around, blearily, until he spotted her.

"Is that coffee?"

She smiled. He was rumpled from sleep, and his hair was sticking up on one side and flat on the other. Obviously he'd just woken up.

"Want some?"

He nodded, and started to go toward the kitchen, but she waved him over to the table and stood up.

"I'll get it for you."

Rather than argue with her – she wasn't there to wait on him, after all – he just nodded again and sat down at the table and watched her as she went into the kitchen. She was still wearing what she'd slept in and didn't look all that awake herself, so he decided that she hadn't been up all that long, either. Long enough to make coffee and start in on the paper but not much more.

She brought him his coffee and he smiled in appreciation at the smell of fresh coffee.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Her hand brushed his shoulder just for a moment as she walked by him to reclaim her seat. "How'd you sleep?"

"Soundly."

She smiled, looking him over.

"It looks like it."

He smiled, and sipped his coffee.

"How did _you_ sleep?"

She hesitated, smiling and even blushing a little.

"It's been a while since I woke up in bed with someone else…"

Which told him that he'd been right; she _had_ stayed with him all night. Instead of embarrassing her by telling her how nice it had been to hold her as he fell asleep, he opted for annoying her instead.

"We can always do it again, you know? Next time _naked_…"

Beckett rolled her eyes, which he'd expected, but instead of the immediate quip about him dreaming, or something similar, she met his gaze.

"We'll see." He choked on his coffee, which made her smile, and she stood up. "Are you hungry?"

"Are you cooking?" he asked, following her into the kitchen with his coffee in hand.

"Yes."

"_Can_ you cook?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm hungry."

She started browsing through his cupboards and fridge.

"Scrambled eggs and sausage?"

"Can you make _pancakes_?"

She arched an eyebrow.

"You're eating _one-handed_. Do you really think a lot of syrup is a good idea?"

He nodded, looking hopeful.

"I'll be careful."

She gave him a dubious look but finally shrugged.

"Okay. Pancakes it is."

OOOOOOOOOO

"In _retrospect_, pancakes might not have been such a great idea, after all…"

Beckett grinned, looking over at him.

"You have syrup in your hair."

And on his hand and face, all over his shirt, his pants, and the area around him at the table.

He tried to set his fork down, only to find it stuck to his hand with syrup. He scowled at her when she started snickering.

"A _real_ friend would help, not mock…"

Not at all contrite, she reached over and plucked the fork from his sticky fingers. It had truly been enjoyable watching him try to eat with one hand. She'd even cut the pancakes into manageable pieces, and he'd still made a doozy of a mess. She hadn't laughed so hard in months. Of course, she'd have to help him clean up, but that was all right. It was worth it for the spectacle.

"Are you finished?" she asked.

He nodded.

"They were good. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Stay there."

She got up and went to the kitchen, running hot water to soak a clean washcloth with it. When she came back she wiped his hand clean for him and then handed the towel over so he could clean his face.

After that he went and changed from the waist down, then brought a shirt for her to help him change into. They didn't need to change his bandages yet, but she did help him wash his hair in the kitchen sink so it wouldn't smell like maple all day before she helped him get the clean shirt on. Then she shooed him out into the living room and out of her way so she could clean up the kitchen.

"I could help," he told her.

"How?"

He looked around.

"I can wipe things off."

She rolled her eyes, glad that he wanted to help but knowing she'd get everything done faster on her own.

"Go sit down, Castle."

"_Rick_," he reminded her.

She smiled.

"Fine. _Rick_, go find something to do."

"Okay," he agreed, amused. "But I _will_ make this up to you. I promise."

"Fine."

Beckett cleaned the kitchen and then went in to check on him. He wasn't hurting enough to want a painkiller earlier, but she thought she'd check and see if he'd changed his mind. He was flipping through channels on the TV when she joined him, and he patted the spot beside him in open invitation.

"Want to watch a movie?" he asked when she sat down.

"I'm going to go take a shower."

"Can I come?"

"No. What if-"

The sound of rattling at the door drew both of their attention and a moment later it opened and Martha walked into the room, dragging a wheeled case behind her. She stopped, surprised to see Beckett there, but smiled when she realized the detective was obviously in pajamas.

"Good morning!" she told them both cheerfully. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Beckett flushed, but Castle grinned, amused.

"Welcome back, Mother."

She frowned, seeing the sling for the first time.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "Where's Alexis? Is Joel still here? What-"

"Mother," Castle interrupted, holding up his free hand to stop her. "Why haven't you answered your cell phone?"

"It's dead. What's going on?"

Beckett took the chance to speak up.

"I'll let him explain it to you," she said, grabbing up bag with her clean clothes in it. "I'm going to go get changed."

And take a shower. That would give Castle plenty of time to fill Martha in on what had happened.


	42. Chapter 42

By the time Beckett had taken a shower, changed into clean clothes and emerged from the bathroom ready for her day, Castle had already told his mother everything that had happened while she was gone and she'd gotten over the initial shock and dismay. Alexis had come home, as well, anxious enough to be with her dad and make sure that he was okay that she'd had her friend's mother bring her home earlier than she might have normally. When Beckett came out of the bathroom, both Alexis and Martha were on the couch, flanking Castle. She couldn't help but smile, because he was almost certainly getting more attention than he'd be comfortable with.

All three of them looked up when she joined them.

"Detective Beckett," Martha greeted her, first. "Is he _really _all right?"

She didn't look convinced, but Kate nodded.

"He's really okay, Martha," she assured the older woman. "At least he will be in a little while. He just needs to be watched and taken care of a little…"

"We can do that," Alexis told her, so confidently that Beckett smiled again.

"I know."

She sat down in the easy chair and listened as Alexis told her grandmother her version of what had happened – which is what she'd been doing when Kate had joined them. After about half an hour, though, she told them that she needed to get going.

"You don't have to leave," Martha told her. "You're welcome to stay."

The detective shook her head.

"Thank you, but I have some things I need to take care of today, and since you two are here, that frees me up to do it. If you need anything, though, please give me a call – and keep him away from pancakes."

The women smiled, knowing there had to be an amusing story behind that and that eventually they'd hear it. If not from him that day, then from her later on.

She retrieved her purse, but none of the clothes she'd brought over, telling them that she'd be by for everything else later. Castle looked like he wanted to object, but instead he eased himself to his feet.

"I'll walk you out…"

Leaving Martha and Alexis on the sofa he walked with Beckett to the door and then closed it behind them as they walked out toward the elevator.

"You don't _have_ to go, you know…?" he said, taking her hand. "They meant it when they said they want you to stay. _I_ want you to stay…"

Beckett shook her head.

"They need some alone time with you to reassure themselves that you're really okay. Especially your mom. She's just had quite a shock, you know? Which is why I left so that _you_ could tell her what happened, since you know her best and knew the best way to tell her without freaking her out. Now she needs some alone time with you. Trust me; I've seen it before…"

"So you're not _escaping_…?"

She chuckled.

"No. I _do_ have things I need to but nothing too important. It's a good excuse to leave, though, without making them feel like they're the reason I'm going."

"That's very kind of you."

"Yeah, well…" she cleared her throat, and took her hand back. "On medication and with your injury you're not going to be able to shadow me for at least a few days, so don't bother coming down to the precinct – Captain Montgomery will send you home the minute you show up. Spend some time getting better."

"But I can call you if I get lonely?"

She smiled.

"Your mom and Alexis aren't going to let you get lonely, believe me." Beckett assured him. Before he could say anything else, though, she reached out and touched his cheek, tenderly. "But if you need me, call. Okay?"

He looked relieved and she had the feeling he thought that she really _was_ trying to escape.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Rick. Now go spend time with your mom and daughter."

"Yes, ma'am."

OOOOOOOOOOO

She didn't go right home. She didn't really need to, after all. Instead she went to the precinct and spent a little time checking on any messages that might require her immediate attention. Not surprisingly there was a message that the ATF wanted to interview her first thing Monday.

"Hey."

She looked up from her messages and smiled when she saw Esposito.

"Hey. We can call off the hunt for Martha. She came home a little while ago."

"Figured she must have since you're here and Castle isn't. You get the message about ATF tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised they're coming here. I'd have figured they would want me to go to them where they can try to intimidate me as they get my official statement."

"They wanted to but Captain Montgomery told them not a chance."

"Good."

"You done watching Castle, then?"

"Yeah. Unless something comes up and they need me."

"Want to get a pizza tonight with us?"

"Sure. Sounds good. Thanks."

She could use a buffer before her week got started. Besides, it was always nice to spend time with the guys when they weren't looking at a dead body and trying to figure out how it got that way and who did it.

"I'll call you."

She nodded and he left, and she turned back to her messages. There were a lot, but when she'd read through them all she decided that none of them were important enough that she needed to respond just then. Everything would wait for tomorrow. Leaning back in her chair she closed her eyes for just a moment, relaxing in the familiar surroundings of her desk and her precinct. Then her cell phone rang and she sat up, reaching for it. It was Castle, and she found herself smiling. Were they already mothering him to distraction?

"Beckett."

"Come rescue me…"

He didn't sound desperate, only resigned.

"It's been an hour…"

"I'll _pay_ you to come and take me somewhere. _Anywhere_…"

His voice was resonating oddly, and she frowned.

"Are you hiding in the bathroom?"

"I'm not hiding…"

She grinned again, but despite his words, she knew he was probably not as bad off as he was making it sound.

"I'll see you in a week, Castle. Have fun."

"A _week_?"

"Unless your arm falls off or something equally bad happens, yes..."

He groaned and she hung up on him, still smiling.

He'd never last a week - and truth be told, she'd miss him if he stayed away that long. But it was still fun to mess with him. He was far too cocky, sometimes, after all.


	43. Chapter 43

**_Epilogue_**

Kate Beckett dropped down on her sofa with a tired sigh and leaned bonelessly against the cushions behind her, closing her eyes and wondering what in the world she was going to have for dinner when she didn't have the energy to even pick up the phone to order something. God knew she didn't have anything in the fridge to eat. Of course, she might be too tired to eat, she decided, feeling exhaustion draining her appetite along with her remaining energy. It had been a long day – a _lot_ longer than she'd expected it to be considering it was only Monday – and the guys had obviously noticed because they'd sent her home instead of inviting her out to dinner with them. She debated a bath, decided against it and wondered if she should just curl up on the couch and take a nap before going to bed.

She had just started to lean over to do just that when the doorbell rang, forcing a groan of frustration.

"No…"

The doorbell didn't care that she was tired. Nor did the person who was ringing it again, impatiently.

"Damn it…"

She closed her eyes, figuring that she'd just ignore whatever it was and they'd go away and leave her to her nap. But the doorbell rang again, this time with a thud that sounded like someone was kicking her door with their foot. With a final sigh she dragged herself off the sofa and to her feet and headed for the door, flinging it open with a scowl that told the person on the other side that the place had better be on fire.

And stopped short when she saw Castle standing her hallway, his arm still in the sling and the other hand filled with several bags, including one that she recognized as her own.

"Castle? What are you doing here?"

"Um…" he looked a little sheepish, and even a tad guilty. "I brought your things to you… you know, to save you the trip."

"You didn't need to do that," she said, reaching out and taking most of the bags from him. The one she took last was a take out bag from a buffet that served home style cooking, and she was sure she smelled mashed potatoes and gravy. It immediately brought her appetite back, and her stomach rumbled almost painfully. "Come in."

He went in, but she had to close the door behind them since his hand was still full.

"I know you said a week," he told her. "But I… um… thought I should check on you."

She frowned as she set the bags down on her coffee table, and took the take out bag to her dining room table.

"Are you crazy? You shouldn't be out alone with the medication-"

"I didn't take a painkiller," he interrupted. "So it's okay. Really. And I brought dinner. Have you eaten?"

She could have argued, but really, she wasn't all that surprised he hadn't listened to her. And she had to admit that she was glad to see him. Especially after the day she'd had.

"No."

"Hungry?"

"Yes."

He smiled, pleased, and headed into her kitchen to gather plates.

"Sit down. I'll get everything."

"_One handed_?"

"You look beat."

She didn't deny it. Instead she sat down at the dinner table and watched as he made several trips to keep from dropping anything.

"Do you have wine?"

"I do, but you're not drinking…"

"I didn't take a pill."

"You're still not drinking," she insisted. One pill missed wasn't that big a deal, but he'd eventually need another one soon enough and she didn't want alcohol in his system. "There's juice and tea if you don't want coffee."

He scowled but she didn't relent and he brought out a pitcher of iced tea.

"You're so mean."

She smiled and started opening the boxes that were in the bag.

"And don't you forget it."

He sat down with her and she served both of them, noticing that he'd picked only food that he'd be able to eat one handed without too much trouble. She was hungry enough not to be all that picky, really, but everything looked good to her.

"How was your day?" he asked as he started eating.

"Rough. How about you? How's your mom doing?"

"She's fine. She started out a bit crazy but the over-protectiveness is wearing down a little, now – which is how I managed to escape for a while."

"I told you she needed some time with you."

"And you were right. Her and Alexis both, really."

She smiled, and they lapsed into comfortable silence while they ate, Kate unwilling to continually rub it in that she was right, and him concentrating on eating without wearing his food.

When they were finished, he offered to clean up but she waved that offer away, tired now that her stomach was pleasantly full.

"Leave it," she told him, standing up and heading for the living room.

He followed and when she sat down on the couch, he joined her, sitting close but not touching.

"What happened today that was so rough?"

She hesitated, uncertain that she should tell him, but his eyes were locked on hers and she knew he could see what she was feeling, because he reached out and took her hand with his good one, and tugged her gently toward him. She took the invitation and scooted against him, leaning carefully against his chest so she wouldn't hurt him.

"I met with the ATF today…"

She felt him tense against her, like she knew he would.

"Oh?"

Beckett nodded.

"Yeah. They wanted the official report about Agent Williams – and my opinion of what I think happened with Keller…"

"What did you tell them?"

"About Keller or Williams?"

"Both."

"With Williams I didn't go into any personal opinions." She looked up at him and took his hand. "I _couldn't_, because there's no way I could be objective."

Which made him smile and feel a little warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that she was talking about him.

"And Keller?"

"I told them what his brother told me. He'd do anything for Williams – and _why_ – and left it at that. There's very little doubt that Keller is responsible for the death of Joel's mother, and the cops there are going to go ahead with that investigations – without allowing ATF in on it since it's one of their agents who's suspected."

"But no one will be punished," Castle told her, resigned. "Keller's dead and so is Williams…"

"I know. ATF will clean house, though, and probably order evaluations on all of the people under Williams."

"That's something, I suppose."

"Yeah."

They fell silent and Beckett closed her eyes, willing to be held for a while before she'd have to send him home so she could get some sleep.

"Need me to go?" he asked, realizing she was actually starting to fall asleep before she realized it herself.

She shook her head.

"Not really."

"If this was one of the fan fiction stories I'd pick you up and carry you to bed," he told her, wishing suddenly that it was.

Beckett smiled, thinking that that would have been nice. She wasn't going to risk him hurting himself, though, by suggesting anything too crazy. Instead, she cuddled close to him, enjoying the contact.

"You can tuck me in if you want," she replied, sleepily. "But not yet."

"Can I stay?"

She hesitated, uncertain what exactly he was asking her, but decided it didn't matter. She knew how she felt about him, now, even though he'd almost had to die in her arms to get her to admit it to herself – much less him.

"Yeah," she answered, her hand squeezing his lightly, and closed her eyes again. "I'd like that."

**_THE END_**

_Author's note: Okay, so I know some of you wanted this story to continue into their growing relationship, but that's not what this story was about so I ended it where I would be happy with the relationship and still have the actual Witness part of the story resolved. I hope you liked it; it was certainly fun to write. I think that I will do one that is more relationship centered – maybe do a sequel of the convention one so I can work off that relationship that I already established. But anyway, let me know what you thought of this one. I like writing Castle stories – almost as much as SG-1 and it's good to know if those reading them are interested. Thanks!_


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